Investigation of the skull melting method for the generation of particulate material of inorganic compounds

This paper describes the application of the skull melting method for an artificial generation of particulate material of inorganic compounds like CsOH, NaOH, SnO2 and UO2. The skull melting process is analyzed analytically. Thereby the electromagnetic field is calculated by a one dimensional time harmonic model. Thermal losses are estimated by simple analytical formulas. Finally an electromagnetic thermal field coupling is performed to calculate the temperature distribution inside the crucible, considering transient thermal effects. The skull melting process is simulated for the example of UO2. Under consideration of the given material properties it is shown that the skull melting method can be applied to fuse UO2.