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Otto, G.

Publications and source records attributed to Otto, G..

Future MAUS payload and the TWIN-MAUS configuration

The German MAUS project (materials science autonomous experiments in weightlessness) was initiated in 1979 for optimum utilization of NASA's Get Away Special (GAS) program. The standard MAUS system was developed to meet GAS requirements and can accommodate a wide variety of GAS-type experiments. The system offers a range of services to experimenters within the framework of standardized interfaces. Four MAUS payloads being prepared for future space shuttle flight opportunities are described. The experiments include critical Marangoni convection, oscillatory Marangoni convection, pool boiling, and gas bubbles in glass melts. Scientific objectives as well as equipment hardware are presented together with recent improvements to the MAUS standard system, e.g., a new experiment control and data management unit and a semiconductor memory. A promising means of increasing resources in the field of GAS experiments is the interconnection of GAS containers. This important feature has been studied to meet the challenge of future advanced payloads. In the TWIN-MAUS configuration, electrical power and data will be transferred between two containers mounted adjacent to each other.

Staniek, S.↗

Ten past and ten future GAS/MAUS-payloads

MAUS (materials science autonomous experiments) is one out of a series of flight opportunities which the Space Program of West Germany offers to scientists from the disciplines of materials research and processing for performing materials science investigations under microgravity conditions. Up to now, ten MAUS experiments were flown which were dealing with the following scientific topics: decomposition of binary alloys with miscibility gap in the liquid state, interaction of a solidification front with dispersed particles, critical Marangoni number, investigation of the magnetic compound MnBi, shrinkage of gas bubbles in glass melts and slip casting. The ten future experiments are partly reflights with modification of the scientific objectives as well as new experiments in the fields of chemical reactions, heat transfer, glass technology and Ostwald ripening. Looking to ten flown payloads, the peculiarities of instrument technology in GAS-cans and its evolution is discussed with emphasis on structure, electronics and thermal design. A typical modern payload using 100 percent of the resource is presented.

Staniek, S.↗

Studies on immiscible alloys

To illustrate the behavior of immiscible liquids of different densities in zero-gravity and to determine the rate of coalescence like droplets, a demonstration experiment was performed on the Skylab 4 mission. Dispersions of oil-in-water and of water-in-oil were prepared by the astronauts and their appearance photographed over a time span of 10 hours. The experiment indicated that all emulsions were stable over this period and that the coalescent rate was at least 3 times 10 to the 5th power times smaller on Skylab than on earth. The recorded melting of a cylindrical piece of ice on Skylab 3 is used to study the mode of heat transfer for the latent heat of melting in low-gravity.

Otto, G.↗

Superconducting compounds and alloys research

Resistivity measurements as a function of temperature were performed on alloys of the binary material system In sub(1-x) Bi sub x for x varying between 0 and 1. It was found that for all single-phase alloys (the pure elements, alpha-In, and the three intermetallic compounds) at temperatures sufficiently above the Debye-temperature, the resistivity p can be expressed as p = a sub o T(n), where a sub o and n are composition-dependent constants. The same exponential relationship can also be applied for the sub-system In-In2Bi, when the two phases are in compositional equilibrium. Superconductivity measurements on single and two-phase alloys can be explained with respect to the phase diagram. There occur three superconducting phases (alpha-In, In2Bi, and In5Bi3) with different transition temperatures in the alloying system. The magnitude of the transition temperatures for the various intermetallic phases of In-Bi is such that the disappearance or occurrence of a phase in two component alloys can be demonstrated easily by means of superconductivity measurements.

Otto, G.↗

Unique intermetallic compounds prepared by shock wave synthesis

Technique compresses fine ground metallic powder mixture beyond crystal fusion point. Absence of vapor pressure voids and elimination of incongruous effects permit application of technique to large scale fabrication of intermetallic compounds with specific characteristics, e.g., semiconduction, superconduction, or magnetic properties.

Otto, G.↗