Fact Sheet

EXPRESS Physics of Colloids in Space (EXPPCS)
03.01.10

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Images

Experiment/Payload Overview

Brief Summary

EXPRESS Physics of Colloids in Space (EXPPCS) studied the kinetics of colloidal (fine particles suspended in a fluid) crystal formation and growth. These experiments provided the critical information necessary to use colloidal precursors to fabricate novel materials in the new field of colloidal engineering. Industries using semiconductors, electro-optics, ceramics and composites may benefit from this investigation.

Principal Investigator

  • David A. Weitz, Ph.D., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
  • Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

  • Peter N. Pusey, Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • Payload Developer

    Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH

    Sponsoring Agency

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

    Expeditions Assigned

    |2|3|4|

    Previous ISS Missions

    The predecessors to EXPPCS Binary Colloid Assembly Test-1,-2 were performed on Mir. The EXPPCS investigation was performed on ISS Increments 2 - 4.

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    Experiment/Payload Description

    Research Summary

    • The International Space Station provides a long-term laboratory for understanding the behavior of colloidal mixtures in a microgravity environment. Some colloids (a system of fine particles suspended in a fluid) have the ability to act like a gas, liquid, solid, or even glass, depending on the relative concentration between the suspended material and the solution they are suspended in, and/or the presence or absence of gravity.


    • The behavior of a densely packed colloid here on earth mimics glass in the distribution of its particles, while in space, the same density colloid acts more closely like a solid. This results in a highly organized, lattice-like arrangement of particles in the colloid. The crystalline particle arrangement within the colloidal suspension creates the maximum amount of particle spacing, which allows for laser-based measurements of the particle structures. The manipulation of a colloid to alter its physical properties is termed colloidal engineering.


    • As the concentration of uniformly sized hard spheres suspended in a fluid is increased, the particle-fluid mixture changes from a disordered fluid state in which the spheres are moving haphazardly to an ordered crystalline state in which they are arranged periodically. Like atoms, the thermal energy of the spheres causes them to bump into each other until they form ordered arrays, or crystals, which gives each sphere the most room to move around.


    • On earth, at even higher concentrations, these hard sphere systems behave like glass. Their true nature and growth manifests itself in microgravity. This has been pleasantly surprising and will be studied with EXPPCS hardware.

    Description

    Colloids can be defined as fluids with other particles dispersed in them, particularly particles of sizes approximately between 1 nanometer and 1 micrometer. Since colloids have widespread uses in nature and industry, understanding of the underlying physics that controls their behavior is important. Under the proper conditions, colloidal particles can self-assemble to form ordered arrays, or crystals. On Earth, the ordering of these particles is mostly directed by gravitational effects, sedimentation, and buoyancy. Self-assembly does not occur. Thus, the weightlessness of low Earth orbit is an important element in the study of colloids.

    Physics of Colloids in Space (PCS) focused on the growth, dynamics, and basic physical properties of four classes of colloids: binary colloidal crystals, colloid-polymer mixtures, fractal gels, and glass. These were studied using static light scattering (for size or positions of the colloids or structures formed), dynamic light scattering (to measure motions of particles or structures), rheological (flow) measurement, and still imaging.

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    Applications

    Space Applications

    The colloidal engineering process will play a fundamental role in the creation of new materials and products in space, such as optical switches and lasers for communications and displays.

    Earth Applications

    EXPPCS will improve such colloids as paints, food products, drug delivery systems and ceramics by providing a better understanding of colloidal behavior.

    The EXPPCS investigation has contributed to Earth-based investigations of cataracts, which are caused by the buildup of damaged proteins within the eye lens and are the single largest cause of blindness. Diagnosis of cataracts is normally carried out by looking for protein buildup via a standard ophthalmological device known as a slit-lamp microscope, which can only detect cataracts once they have formed. Fortunately, a new laser probe originally developed for the U.S. space program to study protein crystal formation on the ISS, has been shown to detect cataracts before they are symptomatic. This new technique uses dynamic light scattering (DLS) to detect small proteins called alpha-crystallins in the eye?s lens, which is a reliable biomarker for cataracts. Laser light is shone into the lens of the eye while a highly sensitive photon detector is used to measure light backscattered at specific wavelengths. If the amount of alpha-crystallin proteins has lessened, this is an indication that cataracts are developing. If cataracts are detected early by this new technique, it may be possible to slow or stop the accumulation of damaged proteins by reducing relevant factors.

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    Operations

    Operational Requirements

    Crew time is required for experiment transfer and activation, checkout, and periodic monitoring. The experiment requires water cooling from its EXPRESS Rack and will be equipped with the Active Rack Isolation System (ARIS) which reduces vibrations.

    Operational Protocols

    The Station crew members will mix colloid samples evenly and allow them to sit for several days. Using the Test section, crew members will perform some analyses but the majority of operation will be ground-based observations utilizing cameras installed in EXPPCS software. The EXPPCS hard drive stores all data for downlinking and post-flight analysis. Remote operation takes place from the Telescience Support Center at Glenn Research Center and at Harvard University.

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    Results/More Information

    Results are discussed by class of colloid material studied. Analyses are still under way.

    Binary colloidal crystals: These alloy samples are dispersions of two differently sized particles in an index-matching fluid. Two samples were studied: an AB13 crystal structure and an AB6 crystal structure. Due to a hardware failure late in Expedition 4, the AB6 experiment was not completed.

    Unexpected ?power law? growth behavior that is still under investigation was observed in the AB13 crystal structure sample.

    Colloid-polymer mixtures: These mixtures induce a weak attractive interaction that allows precise tuning of the phase behavior of the mixtures, and approximate the phase separation below the critical point of a gas-liquid mixture. The phase behavior is controlled by the concentration of the colloid, the concentration of the polymer, and the relative size of the colloid and the polymer. The results from the ISS experiments studied the spinodal decomposition, or phase separation near the critical point, unencumbered by density differences of the phases. The growth of the phase separation was studied using both light scattering and imaging. Without gravity, the phase separation took 30 times longer than on Earth. The sample was mixed, then phase separation began, gradually coarsening until the container walls interacted with the mixture (at 42 hours) and the colloid-rich phase wet the container wall, completely coating it after 60 hours. Because the results follow very similar time evolution as a shallow quench of a binary liquid, they provide insight into the importance of the length scale of colloidal gels; separation depends more on coarsening rates than initial colloid size. (Bailey et al. 2007).

    Colloid-polymer gels: This sample was expected to be in a fluid-cluster state, but unexpectedly formed a solid gel. The elastic modulus, which was estimated using the experiment's rheology capabilities, will be compared to ground samples. "Aging" characteristics of this gel were found to be similar to those formed on Earth.

    Colloid-polymer critical point: Immediately after mixing, the colloid-polymer critical point sample began to separate into two phases?one that resembled a gas and one that resembled a liquid, except that the particles were colloids and not atoms. The colloid-poor regions (the colloidal ?gas? phase) grew bigger until, finally, complete phase separation was achieved and there was just one region of each?a colloid-rich phase and a colloid-poor phase. None of this behavior can be observed in the sample on Earth because sedimentation would cause the colloids to fall to the bottom of the cell faster than the de-mixing process could occur. Knowledge gained from these runs was used to develop the BCAT-3 later operated on ISS.

    Fractal gels: Fractal gels may form when charged colloids have their electrostatic repulsions screened out by the addition of a salt solution, permitting aggregation. These can be formed at very low volume fractions and form highly tenuous aggregates that exhibit a remarkable scaling property, their structure appears the same on all length scales up to a cluster size, and so can be described as a fractal. It was thought that the samples studied (colloidal polystyrene and silica gel) would, in the absence of sedimentation effects, ultimately form a continuous network of fractal aggregate; the polystyrene fractal sample never fully gelled as expected, however. Initial indications are that the volume fraction tested was too low. Large fractal clusters did nevertheless grow (larger than they do on Earth), allowing measurement of the internal vibration modes of these structures. The silica gel is thought to have gelled, and is currently being evaluated.

    Colloidal glass: These samples are still under evaluation. Comparison to samples formed in one-g in the laboratory were needed to understand whether the crystallization observed was due to poor mixing or was a true microgravity phenomena. (Evans et al. 2009)

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    Related Web Sites
  • NASA Fact Sheet
  • NASA Glenn Research Center
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    Publications

    Results Publications

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    Ground Based Results Publications

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      ISS Patent Publications

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        ISS Spinoffs Publications

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          Related Publications
          • Doherty MP, Lant CT, Ling JS. The Physics of Hard Spheres Experiment on MSL-1: Required Measurements and Instrument Performance. Proceedings of the 36th Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit. ;AIAA 1998-0462. 1998
          • Lant CT, Smart AE, Cannell DS, Meyer WV, Doherty MP. Physics of hard spheres experiment--a general purpose light scattering instrument. Applied Optics. ;35:7501-7507. 1997
          • Ansari RR, Hovenac EA, Sankaran S, Koudelka JM, Weitz DA, Cipelletti L, Segre PN. Physics of Colloids in Space Experiment. Space Technology and Applications International Forum. . 1999
          • Doherty MP, Koudelka JM, Motil SM, Saavedra SM. Light Scattering for complex Fluids Research on ISS: Investigator Dreams and Anticipated Hardware Development. Proceedings of the 37th Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit. ;AIAA 1999-0964. 1999
          • Chaikin PM, Russel WB, Kopacka W, A. van Blaaderen, Meyer WV, and Doherty MP Physics of Colloids in Space Plus (PCS+) American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics A01-42932 2001
          • Sankaran S, Gasser U, Manly S, Valentine M, Prasad V, Rudhardt D, Bailey A, Dinsmore A, Segre P, Doherty M, Weeks E, Pusey P, Weitz D Physics of Colloids in Space-2 (PCS-2) AIAA ;AIAA-2001-4959. 2001

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          Images

          imageThis is one of the first images from the EXPRESS Physics of Colloids in Space on the ISS. During Expedition Two, sample AB6 was illuminated with white light to produce the image. The colored regions result from refraction of the white light by the sample and sample cell, splitting it up into its component colors. Image courtesy of Glenn Research Center.
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          imageThis photo was taken with the 1X color camera of the AB6 sample after crystallization had occurred. The different colors are the result of different wavelengths of the white light illumination satisfying the Bragg condition at different angles relative to the lights. Bright sports are large crystallites. Diffuse color occurs are due to small crystallites. This image was taken prior to launch. The circular outline is the 2 cm outside diameter of the sample cell. Image courtesy of Glenn Research Center.
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          Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office