Paper featured as an editor's pick

A paper by Associate Professor Doug Matson and collaborators was named an Editor's Pick of 2021 by the journal NPJ Microgravity.
Douglas Matson headshot

Associate Professor Doug Matson of the Tufts Department of Mechanical Engineering was corresponding author on a collaborative paper recently featured as an Editor's Pick of 2021 by the journal NPJ Microgravity.

In oscillating droplet experiments conducted under microgravity conditions using the Electromagnetic Levitation Facility onboard the International Space Station, the research team investigated the impact of convection on a molten metal droplet's damping behavior.

Ultimately, the researchers found that "the convective flow inside the droplet significantly influences the damping of its surface oscillation." Their findings provide helpful benchmarks for future microgravity experiments and improve the viscosity measurements of liquid melts.

The research team was comprised of Xiao Xiao (first author) and scientific staff member Jürgen Brillo of the Institut für Materialphysik im Weltraum, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Assistant Professor Jonghyun Lee of Iowa State University, Professor Robert Hyers of University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Matson.

Read more: Impact of convection on the damping of an oscillating droplet during viscosity measurement using the ISS-EML facility