NASA's Microgravity Materials Science Program - A Review of Experimental Investigations

Gravity drives thermal and solutal convection Detrimentally impacts solidification microstructures  Compromises diffusion studies Gravity responsible for sedimentation/buoyancy  Promotes non-uniform particle distributions Gravity necessitates, usually, a container to process/study liquids  Compromises accurate study of material properties such as viscosity  Compromises nucleation/undercooling studies