Russian cosmonaut speaks about Peritektika-EML experiment in creating new alloys

ISS, September 3. /TASS/. TASS special correspondent on the International Space Station (ISS), commander of Roscosmos’ cosmonaut team, Oleg Kononenko, has reviewed some details of the peritectic reaction (Peritektika-EML) scientific experiment, aimed at studying multi-component peritectic iron-based melts widely used in industry.
Kononenko shared video footage of replacing samples in the EML furnace for performing a new session of the experiment.
“The Peritektika-EML experiment will make it possible to highlight the dependencies of the phase transformation mechanism and physical and technical characteristics of metal samples on the conditions of convective mixing of the melt and the development of a technique of obtaining a new class of magnetic and structural materials based on alloys of iron with nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium and titanium-aluminum-niobium alloys used in industry,” Kononenko said.
An MSL-EML furnace, designed for electromagnetic levitation melting and crystallization in an alternating electromagnetic field, is used to perform the experiment. The furnace is housed in the European module Columbus, part of the US segment of the ISS.
“The MSL-EML furnace is a complex combined module, containing the experimental module itself, a high-speed video camera, a power and water cooling unit, a gas supply unit, a container for storing sample cassettes and a sample loading unit,” Kononenko said.
Peritectic alloys are among the most widely used materials in industrial production. The research and technical results of the experiment can be used in the field of transportation engineering, materials science, electronic industry and metallurgy to improve technological processes in foundries and additive manufacturing, as well as for the development of superhard coatings with ultra-low friction coefficient based on iron alloys, which are applicable in Russian machine building.