In many metallurgical processes, surface instability or interfacial instability can play important roles to increase the performance of refining or solidification processes. Lorentz force by imposing both direct electric current and stationary magnetic field has two functions concerning the stability or instability of the interface between two liquid layers. One is a stabilizing effect on wave motion activated by gravitational force due to controlling the apparent gravity. The other is a strong disturbance effect on the interface due to Rayleigh-Taylor instability or Kelvin-Helmoholtz instability, which can disperse lower liquid particles into upper liquid phase. In order to clarify these stabilizing or destabilizing effects of Lorentz force, some model experiments were conducted. The results can be explained by theoretical analysis for instability phenomena taking account of apparent gravity, which is defined as the subtraction of Lorentz force from gravity under the supposition of irrotational Lorentz force.
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