Whisker growth studies under conditions which resemble those available on an orbiting space station

Abstract

Minimal funding was provided by NASA with one designated 'mission' being the clear demonstration of the relevance of previously supported whisker growth studies to microgravity research. While in one sense this work has shown the converse, namely, that ambient gravitational fields as high as 1 Earth normal have no relevance to growth of whiskers by hydrogen reduction of metal halides, a case is made that this does not demonstrate lack of relevance to microgravity research. On the contrary, the driving forces for this growth are precisely those which must be understood in order to understand growth in microgravity. The results described suggest that knowledge gained from this work may be highly fundamental to our understanding of the genesis of metal crystals. Time and money ran out before this work could be considered complete. At least another year's study and analysis will be required before publications could be justified