Feel the heat

While astronauts slept, the Material Science Laboratory (MSL) kept the heat on for the CETSOL experiment. Europe’s space furnace heated up metals with temperatures as high as 880° C to study microstructures during the solidification of metallic alloys.

Most metals used today are mixtures of different metals, known as alloys. These alloys combine properties to make new materials and are found everywhere from your smartphone to aircraft.

Scientists want to better understand the melting-solidification processes in alloys, and they took organic compounds to the Space Station as analogues for experimentation. The Transparent Alloys experiment, completed last week, observed their formation unaffected by convection.

Results of these experiments will help to optimise industrial casting processes.