Behavior of gas bubbles in liquid metals

Due to significant differences in material properties such as density or
surface tension the behavior of gas bubbles reveals some pecularities in
liquid metal applications as compared with ordinary water flows. Moreover,
questions about the wetting of solid surfaces or the role of impurities which
have a minor importance in water systems show a more dominant influence in
metallic melts.
In this lecture some examples with respect to the bubble generation process,
the dispersion of gas bubbles or the momentum and heat transfer properties
of liquid metal bubbly flows will be presented.
The variety of standard measuring techniques to characterize liquid metal
flows is limited due to the nature of metallic melts. A selection of measuring
techniques will be discussed with respect to their capabilities and
restrictions in various applications.
An interesting point is the possibility to control liquid metal two-phase flows
by the application of external magnetic fields. Some examples will be presented
showing the influence of a stationary magnetic field on the generation of gas
bubbles, on the interfacial momentum transfer or on the turbulent dispersion
of gas bubbles.