Crew intalling the cartidge with the scientific material in the MSG laboratory (NASA credits)
The E-USOC has received the flight HDDs from the SETA (Solidification along a Eutectic Path in Ternary Alloys) experiment successfully executed on board the ISS in March-April 2020. The data contained in the disks has been processed and provided to the science team through the HRE Data Archive.
SETA was the second experiment successfully performed by the E-USOC using the Transparent Alloys instrument. The aim of the experiment was to study the pattern formation during univariant eutectic reaction in directional solidification in transparent ternary alloys.
This space experiments under microgravity enabled, for the first time, the observation of the dynamics of the pattern formation in an univariant two-phase eutectic alloy. The results will be used to improve and validate numerical simulations of the eutectic microstructure formation in a ternary alloy using the inhouse, phase-field code MICRESS.
The main specific goals are:
- The observation of the microstructure formation in univariant two-phase eutectic growth along the different eutectic grooves
- To study nucleation of eutectic phases on pre-existing phases in transient growth
- The observation of the origin of fault lines in eutectic structures and changes of the faultless eutectic structure