Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures

The primary objective of the microgravity experiment was to measure the temporal evolution of the average size-scale of a solid-liquid mixture during solidification. Specifically, the objective was to measure the average intercept length and the average section area of the solid particles at various times and for various volume fractions of solid. Using this data the amplitude of the temporal power law for the average section area. and intercept length was to be determined. Once the amplitude of the temporal power law is known, the objective is to compare the result to the theoretical predictions on the dependence of the amplitude of the power law on the volume fraction of the coarsening phase. The objective was also to determine the steady-state particle size distribution by measuring the distribution of section area of of the particles in a plane and the intercept length distribution.