Fractal Nature of Advanced Ni-Based Superalloys Solidified on Board the International Space Station

Abstract

Materials science is highly significant in space program investigation, energy production and others. Therefore, designing, improving and predicting advanced material properties is a crucial necessity. The high temperature creep and corrosion resistance of Ni-based superalloys makes them important materials for turbine blades in aircraft engines and land-based power plants. The investment casting process of turbine blades is costly and time consuming, which makes process simulations a necessity. These simulations require fundamental models for the microstructure formation. In this paper, we present advanced analytical techniques in describing the microstructures obtained experimentally and analyzed on different sample’s cross-sectional images. The samples have been processed on board the International Space Station using the MSL-EML device based on electromagnetic levitation principles. We applied several aspects of fractal analysis and obtained important results regarding fractals and Hausdorff dimensions related to the surface and structural characteristics of CMSX-10 samples. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Zeiss LEO 1550, we analyzed the microstructure of samples solidified in space and successfully performed the fractal reconstruction of the sample’s morphology. We extended the fractal analysis on the microscopic images based on samples solidified on earth and established new frontiers on the advanced structures prediction.

Correlation between Agglomerates Hausdorff Dimension and Mechanical Properties of Denture Poly(methyl methacrylate)-Based Composites

“…The analytical solution to this equation system cannot be obtained explicitly; thus, Fractal Real Finder software was used, which obtains the fractal regression coefficients via a computational and numerical approximation. A few applications have already been presented in the literature [23]. Fractal analysis was effectively performed on twodimensional images of the three-dimensional composite material.…”

Editorial for the Special Issue “GNSS, Space Weather and TEC Special Features”

“…The position of the fluence maximum featured higher scatter than the centroid position. − Fractal Nature of Advanced Ni-Based Superalloys Solidified on Board the International Space Station-In this paper [6] presents advanced analytical techniques for describing experimentally obtained microstructures analyzed on cross-sectional images of different samples. The samples were processed on the International Space Station using a device from the Materials Science Laboratory-Electromagnetic Levitator (MSL-EML) based on electromagnetic levitation principles.…”