The Facility for Adsorption and Surface Tension studies (FAST) has been successfully proposed in the framework of the Columbus Precursor Flight activities, and it is now scheduled for a first flight as a SPACEHAB module in 1998. In this paper the basic working principle of the Capillary Pressure Tensiometer, which is the core of the facility, and the main lines of the three selected experiments for this first flight are summarised. All these experiments deal with the adsorption kinetics of soluble surfactants for which diffusion plays a fundamental role. Due to the large attenuation of convective fluxes, microgravity provides an ideal environment where studying adsorption processes in purely diffusive conditions.
The FAST Project: Surface Tension and Adsorption Studies in Microgravity
L Liggieri;F Ravera;
1996
Abstract
The Facility for Adsorption and Surface Tension studies (FAST) has been successfully proposed in the framework of the Columbus Precursor Flight activities, and it is now scheduled for a first flight as a SPACEHAB module in 1998. In this paper the basic working principle of the Capillary Pressure Tensiometer, which is the core of the facility, and the main lines of the three selected experiments for this first flight are summarised. All these experiments deal with the adsorption kinetics of soluble surfactants for which diffusion plays a fundamental role. Due to the large attenuation of convective fluxes, microgravity provides an ideal environment where studying adsorption processes in purely diffusive conditions.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
