Reduced droplet coarsening in electromagnetically levitated and phase-separated Cu–Co alloys by imposition of a static magnetic field

The paper reports a novel method for investigating the kinetics of liquid-phase separation, which combined conventional electromagnetic levitation with a superconducting magnet. The experiments on Cu50Co50 alloys revealed a singular size distribution for the minor Cu-rich phase in a Co-rich matrix under a magnetic field of 2 T, which differed from a bimodal distribution under a zero field. Such an effect of the magnetic field is similar to that of reduced gravity during parabolic flights.