Microgravity compatible equipment for inert gas condensation of metals during parabolic flights.

Agglomerates of nanosized metal particles can be deposited onto a variety of substrates using a custom-built, microgravity-compatible evaporation/condensation device. A metal aerosol with high solid loading is produced by rf-induction coil heating of a metal melt in a laminar inert gas flow. Valves and flow controllers operating in hypergravity and microgravity conditions allow powder samples to be prepared from such aerosols suppressing buoyancy and sedimentation effects. We present here the technical details for such a parabolic flight compatible metal aerosol source together with some initial results of nanoscale Ni agglomerates synthesized and deposited under microgravity conditions.