Sizing of Polystyrene Spheres Produced in Microgravity

摘要

The standard deviation of the size distribution was determined for a polystyrene latex produced in a space shuttle experiment and in an earth-bound control experiment. Values determined from direct measurement of transmission electron micrographs, corrected for magnification distortion, were 0.035 micrometer for the space grown material and 0.15 micrometer for the control. The standard deviations obtained from an aerodynamic particle sizer were only slightly greater than those obtained by TEM; 0.042 micrometer and 0.20 micrometer for the shuttle and ground material respectively. However these values were produced in a few hours versus the several weeks it took for the electron microscopy. Both of the techniques used here resulted in measured standard deviations significantly smaller than those previously reported for this material.