In this study, a sensor measured the thermal conductivity of molten indium antimonide (InSb) using the transient plane source (TPS) method. The measurements were taken during a 10 m short-duration microgravity drop. Results showed that the thermal conductivities of molten InSb were higher in normal gravity than in microgravity....
The authors measured the thermal conductivity of a couple molten metals, namely bismuth and tin. This was accomplished by using a molybdenum sensor placed in between two aluminum nitride plates (to protect the molybdenum sensor from the high temperature of the molten metals. The thermal conductivities were measured during a short-duration of microgravity (to look into the thermal convection effect happening during the measurement) as well as in regular gravity. ...
In this article, researchers measured the thermal conductivity of molten silicon. To avoid potential sensor harm, the standard Kapton and nickel foil sensor was swapped for a molybdenum foil, an aluminum nitride plate sensor. The regular Kapton sensor was replaced because of aluminum nitrides high resistance to the corrosive properties of the silicon melt. It was concluded that the thermal conductivity of molten silicon, at natural gravitational forces, is 45.6 W/...
In this article, researchers employed the use of the TPS method to test the thermal conductivities of various liquid materials, including mercury and silicone oils of different viscosities, in short-duration microgravity environments. The data received for the lower viscosity silicone liquids displayed extreme effects of thermal convection in the microgravity, as compared to the higher viscosity silicone liquids. When mercury was exposed to the microgravity environment, the thermal conductivity was ...
