| X-Ray Microscope for Metal Solidification Studies. A research used to produce stronger alloys and composite materials | ||||||||
NASA Office of Biological and
Physical Research & A description of a new technique to directly observe the solidification (freezing) process in metal alloys in real-time by using x-rays. You will find: images and explainations of what Dr. William Kaukler and Dr. Peter Curreri can see, how it's done, and what they plan. Their method of X-ray Microscopy uses a special microfocus x-ray source to create images of the solid-liquid interface during solidification under controlled conditions. Features having dimensions below ten micrometers are being observed and studied in real-time. The information from this fundamental research is used to produce stronger alloys and composite materials. In addition, every experiment is an exploration into previously unseen worlds. Aluminum-Indium Alloy
Radiomicrograph The first example, shows the kind of interesting internal structures we can observe. This is a low magnification post-solidification x-ray micrograph of an aluminum-indium monotectic alloy unidirectionally solidified (from right to left) while the level of gravity was cycled up and down (along the long axis of the specimen) from 1.8 to 0.01 times earth gravity.
The distribution of the indium particles that formed during the solidification are periodically clustered in response to the level of gravity imposed. (The specimen is 5 mm in diameter.) Such solidification studies are an example of the kind of research that NASA's Microgravity Science and Applications Division is responsible for. The X-ray Microscope is presently too large to use in a microgravity environment but the XTM is used to examine flight samples before and after the experiments are run on the Shuttle. They are presently designing a compact version that could be tested on the KC-135. Some examples of x-ray microscopy during solidification of aluminum alloys (in the laboratory) using the X-ray Transmission Microscope (XTM).
This work is being performed by Dr. William Kaukler and Dr. Peter Curreri at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Source: Nasa | ||||||||
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This was done by flying the
furnace in a NASA aircraft flown in a special, parabolic trajectory to simulate
the low gravity conditions in space for 20 seconds at a time. Much more can be
found about these aircraft
at NASA Lewis Research Center.
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