This paper presents results concerning the electromagnetic levitation of solid metal samples. It describes the levitation system and some coils designed to melt 10 g metal samples under controlled atmosphere, as well as melting the process. The main advantage of the method is the absence of any type of crucible and owing to this, the effect of side reaction can be avoided, resulting from the influence of the active metal on the walls of the ceramic crucible in the physicochemical investigations. In many cases, the side reaction makes the correct interpretation of the experimental results sometimes difficult and/or impossible. In order to describe the crystallisation process and the change in the microstructure of the samples obtained during electromagnetic melting at the intermetallic Fe–Ni–Ti phase, a scanning electron microscopy analysis and an X-ray diffraction analysis were used.

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Thermodynamic properties of the liquid Bi 2 O 3 -SiO 2 solutions were determined from the results of the electrochemical measurements by use of the solid oxide galvanic cells with YSZ (Yttria-Stabilized-Zirconia) electrolyte. Activities of Bi 2 O 3 in the solutions were determined for 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 SiO 2 mole fractions in the temperature range 1073-1293 K from measured electromotive force (e.m.f) of the solid electrolyte galvanic cell:Bi, Bi 2 O 3 -SiO 2 | YSZ | air (p O2 = 0.213 bar) Additionally, heat capacity data obtained for two solid phases 6Bi 2 O 3 ·SiO 2 and 2Bi 2 O 3 ·3SiO 2 were included into optimization of thermodynamic properties of the system. Optimization procedure was supported by differential thermal analysis (DTA) data obtained in this work as well as those accepted from the literature. Using the data obtained in this work, and the information about phase equilibria found in the literature, binary system Bi 2 O 3 -SiO 2 was assessed with the ThermoCalc software.