Materials science investigations using electromagnetic levitation

Abstract

EML on ISS allows levitating liquid samples both above and below their melting points for extended periods under ultra-high vacuum or ultra clean noble gas atmosphere. Various stimuli can be applied to the samples for dedicated experiment objectives. The heat input into the sample can be modulated to induce a thermal response of the sample, short heater pulses can be used to induce surface shape oscillations of the liquid sample, a custom made trigger needle can be driven into the undercooled sample to induce heterogeneous nucleation at a predefined temperature, touching of the sample by a dedicated chill cool plate or application of a forced gas flow can be used to increase the cooling rate of the sample or to simulate convection for reference experiments. Dedicated diagnostics elements are available to measure the physical properties of the sample. Sample temperature is measured by a pyrometer; two video units in orthogonal views provide both high spatial (up to 1 Megapixel and relative size resolution 2 * 10-4) and temporal (up to 30 kHz) resolution. Additional capabilities are under discussion which would allow to measure the electrical conductivity of the sample from electrical data of the rf coil system, and to determine the residual oxygen content of the process atmosphere.