INFLUENCE OF LIQUID BRIDGE VOLUME ON THE ONSET OF OSCILLATION IN FLOATING-ZONE CONVECTION .1. EXPERIMENTS

The onset of oscillation in the floating zone convection driven by the gradient of surface tension was experimentally studied, and discussio ns were concentrated on the influence of liquid bridge volume on the o nset of oscillation. Distributions of critical applied temperature dif ference and frequency depending on the volume of the liquid bridge wer e obtained, and there was a gap range of liquid volume which separated the curve of marginal stability into two parts for fixed rod diameter and aspect ratio. The results imply that the volume of the liquid bri dge is a sensitive critical parameter for the onset of oscillation. Th e implication on the instability is also discussed in the present pape r.