A quantitative comparison of thermophysical property measurement of CMSX-4� Plus (SLS) in microgravity and terrestrial environments

Abstract

Density, thermal expansion coefficient, surface tension and viscosity of Ni-based CMSX-4� Plus have been measured for a range of liquid temperature by utilizing two Electrostatic levitation (ESL) facilities. Ground-based tests were conducted using the NASA MSFC ESL facility in Ultra High Vacuum and space-based tests were conducted using JAXA ELF in a 172 kPa Argon gas atmosphere. The measured values were compared to the available literature data from various other facilities. This study focuses on a detailed uncertainty analysis of the experimental data to measure the accuracy and precision of the measured properties using Guide to the expression of Uncertainty Measurement (GUM) principles. The findings from this study have been used to quantify the performance of the two ESL facilities.