Microgravity conditions and electrical resistivity of liquid alloys with critical mixing

The phenomena of two-liquid phase separations are significantly influenced by the gravity on the ground because of the difference in the densities of the constituent components, particularly, in the case of liquid alloys with critical mixing. In this paper, experimental techniques and results are reported for the measurements of the electrical resistivity for typical liquid alloys with critical mixing, such as Bi−Ga, under microgravity by the use of a rocket S520-19 belonging to ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan). It was found that the temperature coefficient of the electrical resistivity, on cooling of the homogeneous liquid phase, increases with the approach to the critical temperature. This trend under microgravity by the rocket experiment is more pronounced compared to the trend of the reference experiment on the ground. In addition, the supercooling of homogeneous liquids under microgravity is larger than that on the ground. These differences are explained by the difference in the degree of the growth of concentration fluctuations; the concentration fluctuations are far greater under microgravity than on the ground. Therefore, it is found to be very important to study the process and the critical phenomena of two-liquid phase separations under microgravity. Measurement of electrical resistivity is an effective method to obtain informations about the process, the critical phenomena, and the supercooling of two-liquid phase separations in liquid alloys with critical mixing.