Thermophysical Property Measurements in Microgravity: Chances and Challenges

The microgravity environment offers considerable advantages for the measurement of thermophysical properties, in particular, for high-temperature metallic melts. The absence of containers and of convection are the two major benefits. This paper reviews past microgravity experiments dealing with thermophysical property measurements and discusses the methods used. An outlook into the space station era is also given with special emphasis on chances and challenges.