Publication Date
2021
Journal or Book Title
NPJ MICROGRAVITY
Abstract
The effect of fluid flow on crystal nucleation in supercooled liquids is not well understood. The variable density and temperature gradients in the liquid make it difficult to study this under terrestrial gravity conditions. Nucleation experiments were therefore made in a microgravity environment using the Electromagnetic Levitation Facility on the International Space Station on a bulk glass-forming Zr57Cu15.4Ni12.6Al10Nb5 (Vit106), as well as Cu50Zr50 and the quasicrystal-forming Ti39.5Zr39.5Ni21 liquids. The maximum supercooling temperatures for each alloy were measured as a function of controlled stirring by applying various combinations of radio-frequency positioner and heater voltages to the water-cooled copper coils. The flow patterns were simulated from the known parameters for the coil and the levitated samples. The maximum nucleation temperatures increased systematically with increased fluid flow in the liquids for Vit106, but stayed nearly unchanged for the other two. These results are consistent with the predictions from the Coupled-Flux model for nucleation.
ORCID
Galenko, Peter/0000-0003-2941-7742; Bracker, Gwendolyn/0000-0001-6288-4874
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-021-00161-9
Volume
7
Issue
1
License
UMass Amherst Open Access Policy
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Funder
NASANational Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) [NNX10AU19G, NNX16AB52G, NNX16AB40G, 80NSSC21K010]; German Space Center Space Management [50WM1941]; Russian Science FoundationRussian Science Foundation (RSF) [21-19-00279]; ESA project ICOPROSOL [AO-2009-959]; ESAEuropean Space Agency
Recommended Citation
Gangopadhyay, A. K.; Sellers, M. E.; Bracker, G. P.; Holland-Moritz, D.; Van Hoesen, D. C.; Koch, S.; Galenko, P. K.; Pauls, A. K.; and Hyers, R. W., "Demonstration of the Effect of Stirring on Nucleation from Experiments on the International Space Station Using the ISS-EML Facility" (2021). NPJ MICROGRAVITY. 647.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-021-00161-9