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The Electrostatic Levitation Facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight CenterContainerless processing is an important area of research in materials science. Electrostatic levitation (ESL) represents an emerging technology which permits containerless processing in a vacuum environment. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) established a levitation facility to provide a critical resource to the microgravity materials science research community to continue and enhance ground-based research in the support of the development of flight experiments during the transition to Space Station. During ESL processing, charged specimens are levitated in the electrostatic field produced by the system's electrodes. Three sets of positioning electrodes represent the heart of the MSFC system. Two dual-axis position sensitive detectors provide input for the PID control-loop computer. Sample position is maintained by adjusting the control voltages for the power supplies of the positioning electrodes. A UV source refreshes the charge on specimens during processing via the photoelectric effect. Lasers permit sample heating independent of positioning. The processing chamber typically operates under vacuum condition approximately = 10(exp -7) Torr. Electrostatic levitation provides a materials science research tool for investigations of refractory solids and melts. Topics of investigation include thermophysical properties, phase equilibria, metastable phase formation, undercooling and nucleation, time-temperature-transformation diagrams and other aspects of materials processing. Current capabilities and recent results of processing studies for metals, alloys and oxides will be reviewed.
Document ID
20000083211
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Rogers, Jan R.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Hyers, Robert W.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Savage, Larry
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Robinson, Michael B.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Rathz, Thomas J.
(Alabama Univ. Huntsville, AL United States)
Rose, M. Franklin
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2000
Subject Category
Ground Support Systems And Facilities (Space)
Meeting Information
Meeting: 14th Thermophysical Properties
Location: Boulder, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: June 26, 2000
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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