Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:10:43.452Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Solidification of Undercooled Ni-Sn Eutectic Alloy Under Microgravity Conditions in the Space

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Shuttle T. J. Piccone ,
F. H. Harf ,
Y. Wu ,
Y. Shiohara ,
M. C. Flemings  and
E. A. Winsa
Shuttle T. J. Piccone
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139
F. H. Harf
Affiliation:
NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135
Y. Wu
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139
Y. Shiohara
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139
M. C. Flemings
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139
E. A. Winsa
Affiliation:
NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135
Get access

Abstract

The Space Shuttle Columbia carried an Alloy Undercooling Experiment on its STS 61-C mission in January, 1986. The experiment was performed in the electromagnetic levitator (EML) designed and produced by the General Electric Company. A sample of Ni-32.5wt% Sn eutectic was melted and solidified under microgravity conditions in the Space Shuttle. The specimen achieved only a fairly small undercooling, probably less than 30 K.

The specimen was examined by optical and scanning electron microscopy. The surface and cross-sectional microstructures were primarily composed of normal lamellar eutectic, but showed several interesting features, including an apparent surface nucleation site, curved dendrites with non-orthogonal secondary arms, dendrite fragments with extremely fine arm spacing, submicron precipitates, and faceted crystals. The results of the space experiment are presented and compared with ground-based results obtained with the same alloy.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 87: Symposium O – Materials Processing in the Reduced Gravity Environment of Space , 1986 , 47
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. Piccone, T. J., S.M. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1984).Google Scholar
2. Wu, Y., Sc. D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1986).Google Scholar
3. Wu, Y., Piccone, T. J., Shiohara, Y., and Flemings, M. C., ”Dendritic Growth of Undercooled Nickel-Tin: Part I,” accepted for publication in Metallurgical Transactions A (1986).Google Scholar
4. Piccone, T. J., Wu, Y., Shiohara, Y., and Flemings, M. C., ”Dendritic Growth of Undercooled Nickel-Tin: Part II,” accepted for publication in Metallurgical Transactions A (1986).Google Scholar
5. Wu, Y., Piccone, T. J., Shiohara, Y., and Flemings, M. C., ”Dendritic Growth of Undercooled Nickel-Tin: Part III,” submitted for publication (1986).Google Scholar
6. Harf, F. H., Piccone, T. J., Wu, Y., Flemings, M. C., Shiohara, Y., Gardner, L. B., and Winsa, E. A., ”The Alloy Undercooling Experiment on the Columbia STS 61-C Space Shuttle Mission,” AIAA Paper 87–0506, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1987).Google Scholar
7. Bower, T. F. and Flemings, M. C., Trans. AIME 239, 1620 (1967).Google Scholar