An analytical model for a Skull melting set-up is presented, which describes the power absorption in the melt and the losses in the inductor coil and the cold crucible. A strong dependence of the relative size of these quantities on the applied frequency has been found. Above a characteristic frequency, where the skin depth equals about one half of the melt radius, only a small percentage of the overall power (typically 10% for oxide melts) is lost in the copper coil and the crucible. Below this frequency, the relative part of these losses increases considerably and can prevent a successful Skull melting experiment. Analytical results are in good agreement with experimental (calorimetric) measurements of the power consumption in a typical Skull run (cubic stabilized zirconia), and with corresponding numerical simulations of the Skull process. The thermal conductivity of the Skull crust was estimated from experimental data.
Keywords: skull melting, calorimetric measurement, ZrO2 , Y2O3-stabilised
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