Beginning of the Hungarian Space Metallurgy Activity: The BEALUCA Project

Abstract:

The Hungarian research group which dealt with some solidification problems have obtained a possibility to work out an space metallurgy project in 1980 during the Hungarian-Soviet joint space mission. The goals of the experiment were to control the developed simulation method and the demonstration of some fundamental effects. The experiments were performed on the SALYUT 6 space station in the SPLAV and KRISTAL furnaces. The materials were Al-4%Cu alloy and pure aluminum rod covered by copper mantle. In case of the Al-4%Cu alloy the details of the solidification (microsegregation, dendritic structure) while in case of copper covered aluminum rod the diffusion in the melt were investigated. The results of the space experiments have confirmed the usability of the developed simulation and have established the further work. The experiences of this work have contributed to the developing of the so called Hungarian Space Furnace (Universal Multizone Crystallizator, UMC).

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 649)
• Pages: 1-9
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.649.1
• Online since: May 2010
• Authors: Erik G. Fuchs
• Keywords: Al-Cu Alloys, KRISTAL Furnace, Solidification, Space Metallurgy, SPLAV Furnace

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