Affiliations: [a] Department of Chemical Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ohkubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan | [b] Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan | [c] Department of Materials Science & Chemical Engineering, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan | [d] Institute of Advanced Material Study, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasuga Koen, Kasuga 816-0811, Japan | [e] NASDA, 2-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba 305-8505, Japan
Abstract: In order to investigate the effect of gravity on the mixing of indium (In) and antimony (Sb) melts under the uniform temperature, an In–Sb sample without a free melt surface was melted and solidified both under microgravity and on earth. In the earth-processed sample, the indium concentration was not uniform because of the gravitational segregation. On the other hand, the indium concentration in the space-processed sample became fairly uniform. From the measurement of concentration distribution in the solidified samples, the effective diffusion coefficient of indium into Sb was estimated to be (1.3–2.4) × 10^{-4} cm^{2}/s. During the cooling process, many InSb needle crystals were formed and finally residual solution was solidified.
