Solidification under zero gravity: A Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) experiment for an early space shuttle mission

The preliminary design of two series of simple experiments the objectives of which are to determine the effect of an absence of gravity on (1) the general morphology of the structure, (2) location of ullage space, and (3) magnitude of surface tension driven convection, during the solidification of several metallic and nonmetallic systems is described. Details of the investigative approach, experimental procedure, experimental hardware, data reduction and analysis, and anticipated results are given.