Materials Science in Space

Current investigation on materials in space has focused on the study of the variations of mechanical, optical and electrical properties as they are effected by the factors which characterize the exploitation of space. This book provides unified, comprehensive coverage of the field. Covered are the behaviour problems of materials in space including: hydrodynamics, the laws of heat and mass transfer and the theory of thermal convection by concentration gradient. Also provided are experimental studies of the growth of semiconductor crystals, the solidification characteristics of metals alloys and compound in microgravity. A final section deals with experiments in weightlessness. An extensive bibliography series to augment the information is also provided.