The promise of space processing

Abstract

The long exposure to a virtually zero-gravity environment is a truly unique situation that cannot be duplicated or even approximated for any length of time on earth. The topics discussed are: (1) low gravity; (2) atmospheric effects; (3) potential advantages of materials processing in space; (4) the absence of buoyancy-driven convection; (5) the absence of hydrostatic pressure; (6) the absence of sedimentation and buoyancy; (7) containerless processing; and (8) ultrahigh vacuum processing.