Fact Sheet

Text Size

Facility for Absorption and Surface Tension (FASTER)
04.26.13

OpNom:

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Imagery

Experiment Overview

This content was provided by Liberio Liggieri, Ph.D., and is maintained in a database by the ISS Program Science Office.

Information provided courtesy of the Erasmus Experiment Archive.
Brief Summary

Facility for Absorption and Surface Tension (FASTER) investigates how surfactants (surface acting agents that reduce the surface tension of water) will affect the physical chemistry properties and emulsion stability of droplet interfaces.

Principal Investigator(s)

  • Liberio Liggieri, Ph.D., Institute of Physical Chemistry of Materials, Genova, Italy

    • Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

  • A. Di Lullo, Italy
  • Annie Steinchen, Université Paul Cezanne, Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France
  • Christine Dalmazzone, Ph.D., Institute Francais du Petrole, Riel-Malmaison, France
  • Daniele Clausse, Ph.D., Universite de Technologie Compiegne, Compiegne, France
  • Giuseppe Loglio, Ph.D., University of Florence, Firenze, Italy
  • Reinhard Miller, Ph.D., Max Planck Institut for Kolloid und Grenzflaechenforschung, Potsdam, Germany

    • Developer(s)
    Information Pending

    Sponsoring Space Agency

    European Space Agency (ESA)

    Sponsoring Organization

    Information Pending

    Research Benefits

    Information Pending

    ISS Expedition Duration

    September 2013 - March 2014

    Expeditions Assigned

    37/38

    Previous ISS Missions

    FASTER is scheduled for its first operations on ISS Increment 23/24.

    ^ back to top


    Experiment Description

    Research Overview

    • FASTER aims to determine the characteristics of liquid/liquid interface surfactant adsorption dynamics (how the surfactant interaction with liquids affects the flow).


    • FASTER will investigate adsorption dynamics (how binding of molecules to a surface affects flow), surfactant transfer (when the surfactant crosses the liquid/liquid boundary), interfacial rheology (flow properties of interfaces), and the role of surfactants in stabilization (maintaining droplet interfaces).

    Description

    Information Pending

    ^ back to top


    Applications

    Space Applications

    Some fluid handling processes in space are prone to involve emulsions and there the absence of the effect of gravity may influence their life time. A good knowledge of the mechanisms involved and their characteristic scales of time and length will help engineers predict the behaviour of emulsions and factor it into the design of space systems.

    Earth Applications

    Emulsions are present everywhere in our daily lives starting with milk and most dairy products, and including also common water-oil mixtures in other food or industrial products. Depending on the process or product it deals with, industry is in demand of knowledge about how to stabilise or destabilise an emulsion. FASTER can provide knowledge enabling optimisation of the design of surfactants, or of their utilisation, towards greener products.

    ^ back to top


    Operations

    Operational Requirements

    Information Pending

    Operational Protocols

    Information Pending

    ^ back to top


    Results/More Information

    ^ back to top


    Related Websites

    ^ back to top


    Imagery

    Information provided by the investigation team to the ISS Program Scientist's Office.
    If updates are needed to the summary please contact JSC-ISS-Program-Science-Group. For other general questions regarding space station research and technology, please feel free to call our help line at 281-244-6187 or e-mail at JSC-ISS-Research-Helpline.
    › Back To Top