Thermocapillary convection is an important subject of nature convection in the microgravity environment, and dominates many processes in the space materials processing and space biotechnologies. The onset of oscillatory convection relates to the bifurcation transition of fluid system. The microgravity experiments of larger scale in space and the simulation experiments of small scale on the ground are summarized to search the critical parameters for onset of oscillatory thermocapillary convection. The theoretical models are analyzed for discussion of the mechanisms. The results show that, the subject is still open for future research, and several space experiments are arranged to be performed in the near future.
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