Breakthrough experiments in the field of materials science and fluid physics have
recently been performed on the International Space Station ISS enabling high-precision
measurements of various thermophysical properties of freely suspended metallic liquid
drops in the stable und undercooled liquid state. By stimulating strong magnetic fields at
various time scales A.C. calorimetry, liquid surface excitations and other techniques can be
used to measure thermodynamic properties (specific heat, thermal conductivity, emissivity),
surface (surface tension) and kinetic properties (viscosity) with a precision not attainable on
earth. The exact knowledge of these properties is crucial in optimizing casting and
solidification processes for engineering components fabricated on earth.
While the ground-based containerless levitation techniques (ESL, EML) in general
have serious limitations for precise thermophysical property measurements, the joint CMS–
ESA research project will expand such measurements further to low-earth orbit and make
high-precision measurements feasible for a new class of materials, namely bulk metallic
glasses and its composites which exhibit very low evaporation rates in their liquid state.
These investigations shall be performed aboard the International Space Station ISS using
MSL-EML - and at a later stage - aboard the Chinese Space Station CSS. The contribution of
ESA is the EML facility for containerless processing of electrically conducting samples in a
wide temperature range. The contribution of CMSA will be the systematic development and
selection of alloy systems and investigations in space with ground support to explore the
relationship between the thermophysical properties and temperature, alloy compositions,
atomic structure and glass forming ability.