Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T05:24:41.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Floating-Zone Processing of Indium in Earth-Orbit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Shawn P. Murphy ,
J. J. Hendrick ,
M. J. Martin ,
R. W. Grant  and
M. D. Lind
Shawn P. Murphy
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Corporation, Downey, CA 90241 and Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
J. J. Hendrick
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Corporation, Downey, CA 90241 and Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
M. J. Martin
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Corporation, Downey, CA 90241 and Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
R. W. Grant
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Corporation, Downey, CA 90241 and Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
M. D. Lind
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Corporation, Downey, CA 90241 and Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
Get access

Abstract

An experiment in floating-zone processing of indium was performed on Space Transportation System (STS) Flight 41-D on September 4, 1984. An indium crystal 1 cm in diameter and 7 cm long was grown. The polycrystal-line indium used as the feedstock had been doped with approximately 100 ppm thallium to investigate the distribution coefficient of thallium in indium; the result was K =CS/CL< 0.03. Indium was chosen for study because its low melting point and the low vapor pressure of the melt at that temperature would simplify the apparatus and reduce the electrical energy and cooling requirements. Another advantage is that the properties of liquid indium probably preclude time-dependent thermocapillary flows. The experiment also served as the first flight test of the Fluids Experiment Apparatus (FEA), a new multiple-purpose apparatus we have developed for low-cost, entry-level materials processing, physics and chemistry experiments in Earth-orbit. The experiment confirmed the flight-worthiness of the FEA and the suitability of indium for exploratory floating-zone experiments in Earth-orbit.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 87: Symposium O – Materials Processing in the Reduced Gravity Environment of Space , 1986 , 139
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Green, R.E., Jr., “Governing Equations for the Shapes of Molten Zones,” J. Appl. Physics 35, 1297–1301 (1964).Google Scholar
2. Pfann, W.G. and Hagelbarger, D.W., “Electromagnetic Suspension of a Molten Zone,” J. Appl. Physics 27, 12–18 (1956).Google Scholar
3. Farrow, R.F.C., “The Evaporation of InP under Knudsen (Equilibrium) and Langmuir (Free) Evaporation Conditions,” J. Physics D 7, 2436–48 (1974).Google Scholar
4. The seed was furnished by Dr. Joseph Trivisonno, Jr., Dept. of Physics, John Carroll University.Google Scholar
5. Schwabe, D., Scharmann, A., Preisser, F. and Oeder, R., “Experiments on Surface Tension Driven Flow in Floating Zone Melting,” J. Cryst. Growth 43, 305–312 (1978).Google Scholar
6. Schwabe, D. and Scharmann, A., “Some Evidence for the Existence and Mag-nitude of a Critical Marangoni Number for the Onset of Oscillatory Flow in Crystal Growth Melts,” J. Cryst. Growth 46, 125–131 (1979).Google Scholar
7. Vanek, P. and Kadeckova, S., “Growth Striations in Fe-3 wt% Si Single Crystals Grown by Floating-Zone Melting at Various Growth Rates,” J. Cryst. Growth 47, 458–462 (1979).Google Scholar
8. Chun, C.-H., “Marangoni Convection in a Floating Zone Under Reduced Gravity,” J. Cryst. Growth 48, 600–610 (1980).Google Scholar
9. Preisser, F., Schwabe, D. and Scharmann, A., “Steady and Oscillatory Thermocapillary Convection in Liquid Columns with Free Cylindrical Surface,” J. Fluid Mech. 126, 545–567 (1983).Google Scholar
10. Schwabe, D. and Scharmainn, A., “Measurement of the Critical Marangoni Number in a Floating Zone under Reduced Gravity,” ESA SP-191, Proc. of 4th European Symp. on Materials Sciences under Microgravity, Madrid, Spain, 5–8 Apr 1983, pp. 213–218.Google Scholar
11. Kamotani, Y., Ostrach, S., and Vargas, M., “Oscillatory Thermocapillary Convection in a Simulated Floating-Zone Configuration,” J. Cryst. Growth 66, 83–90 (1984).Google Scholar
12. Napolitano, L.G., “Marangoni Convection in Space Microgravity Environ-ments,” Science 225, 197–8 (1984).Google Scholar
13. Napolitano, L.G., Monti, R., and Russo, G., “Some Results of the Marangoni-Free Convection Experiment,” ESA SP-222, Results of Spacelab-1, Schloss Elmau, FRG, 5–7 Nov 1984, pp. 15–22.Google Scholar
14. Kolker, H., “Crystallization of a Silicon Sphere,” ESA SP-222, Results of Spacelab-1, Schloss Elmau, FRG, 5–7 Nov 1984, pp. 169–172.Google Scholar
15. Eyer, A., Leiste, H., and Nitsche, R., “Crystal Growth of Silicon in Spacelab-1: Experiment ES-321,” ESA SP-222, Results of Spacelab-1, Schloss Elmau, FRG, 5–7 Nov 1984, pp. 173–182.Google Scholar
16. Monti, R., Napolitano, L.G., and Mannara, G., “TEXUS Flight Results on Convective Flows and Heat Transfer in Simulated Floating Zones,” ESA SP-222, Results of Spacelab-1, Schloss Elmau, FRG, 5–7 Nov 1984, pp. 229–236.Google Scholar
17. Ch.-Chun, H., “Verification of Turbulence Developing from the Oscil-latory Marangoni Convection in a Liquid Column, “ESA SP-222, Results of Spacelab-1, Schloss Elmau, FRG, 5–7 Nov 1984, pp. 271–280.Google Scholar
18. Schwabe, D. and Scharmann, A., “Measurements of the Critical Marangoni Number of the Laminar-Oscillatory Transition of Thermocapillary Con-vection in Floating Zones,” ESA SP-222, Results of Spacelab-1, Schloss Elmau, FRG, 5–7 Nov 1984, pp. 281–289.Google Scholar
19. Eyer, A., Leiste, H. and Nitsche, R., “Floating Zone Growth of Silicon under Microgravity in a Sounding Rocket,” J. Cryst. Growth 71, 173–182 (1985).Google Scholar
20. Eyer, A. and Leiste, H., “Striation-Free Silicon Crystals by Float- Zoning with Surface-Coated Melt,” J. Cryst. Growth 71, 249–252 (1985).Google Scholar
21. Chang, C.E. and Wilcox, W.R., “Inhomogeneities Due toThermocapillary Flow in Floating-Zone Melting,” J. Cryst. Growth 28, 8–12 (1975).Google Scholar
22. Clark, P.A. and Wilcox, W.R., “Influence of Gravity on Thermocapillary Convection in Floating Zone Melting of Silicon,” J. Cryst. Growth 50, 461–469 (1980).Google Scholar
23. Ostrach, S., “Low-Gravity Fluid Flows,” Annual Rev. Fluid Mech. 14, 313–345 (1982).Google Scholar
24. Fu, B.-I. and Ostrach, S., “Numerical Solutions of Floating-Zone Thermo-capillary Flows,” Proc. of 4th European Symp. on Material Sciences under Microgravity, Madrid, Spain, 5–8 Apr 1983, pp. 239–245.Google Scholar
25. Kobayashi, N., “Computer Simulation of the Steady Flow in a Cylindrical Floating Zone under Low Gravity,” J. Cryst. Growth 66, 63–72 (1984).Google Scholar
26. Xu, J.J. and Davis, S.H., “Convective Thermocapillary Instabilities in Liquid Bridges,” Physics of Fluids 27, 1102–1107 (1984).Google Scholar