Experimental physicists study steel on board the ISS
For many years, the Institute of Experimental Physics at Graz University of Technology and the Styrian industrial company Böhler Edelstahl have been conducting joint research on the surface tension and temperature dependence of different types of steel. "This data is of great importance for both science and industry," explains experimental physicist Gernot Pottlacher. "It demonstrates how the material behaves when it is heated and cooled, that is, how it changes from the solid to the liquid phase and back again." Steel in particular is the focus of interest here, because it will be needed in metallic laser 3-D printing to produce steel components using this new remelting technology in the future. Conventional examination methods only work up to a certain upper temperature limit. At higher temperatures, problems can occur with the sample container, such as interactions between the container and the sample, and this would falsify the measuring results.