Combustion synthesis of ZnS in microgravity

Abstract

The self-heating nature of SHS (Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis) makes it particularly suitable for microgravity processing of materials where weight and power requirements are severely restricted. The absence of convection, hydrostatic pressure, and phase separation permits the combustion front dynamics and solidification processes of SHS to be studied under controlled conditions. This paper describes recent ground-based and microgravity (NASA KC-135 parabolic flight) experiments on SHS processing of ZnS. A novel technique was used for preparing the precursor mixture of Zn+S by mixing the zinc with molten sulfur, which allows the synthesis of a high-density and high-purity product. The flame speed, quenching diameter, and temperature profile in the flame front and crystal structure of the synthesized samples have been determined. Thermocouple measurement of the temperature profile in the flame front indicates that the thermal thickness of the flame is less than 0.3 mm. The average flame speed is of the order of 7 mm/s, and slightly lower values (≈4 mm/s) are observed near the quenching limit. It was found that the flame speed is not stable along the samples with diameters more than 12 mm. The quenching diameter is found to be of the order of 5 mm (in microgravity less than 4 mm). X-ray diffraction data show a wurtzite structure both in ground-based and in-flight synthesized samples, and the lattice's parameters are most similar to the ideal ZnS wurtzite structure in the outer part of samples synthesized in microgravity. The ability to provide containerless SHS processing of molten ZnS in microgravity also has been demonstrated.