Abstract
The applications of liquid metals in heat-transfer problems are discussed, and comparisons are drawn between those metals whose melting points are sufficiently low to make them of interest in this respect. A number of sodium and sodium-potassium circuits which have been built and operated over the past three years are described; some of these were built in order to gain experience in handling the liquid metals, whilst others were for heat-transfer experiments. A general discussion on the design and construction of liquid metal circuits and the components which are commonly used in them is given. A brief discussion of forced-convection heat-transfer with liquid metals follows, and the results of some work on cavitation in sodium-potassium eutectic flowing through a constriction in a pipe are summarized.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.