A space instrument for fundamental materials science problems: The MEPHISTO program

Keeping planar the L/S interface during solidification and controling heat and mass transfers in the liquid phase are 2 important constraints which need to be satisfied to grow suitable single crystals. In the first part of this paper we describe performances of the MEPHISTO instrument which allows :

— On line in-situ measurements of the real undercooling of a solidification front by a non-perturbative thermoelectric method.

— On line supervision of convective motions influence on crystal growth. In the second part, we present the first main results obtained during the ground testing of the space mock-up and we quantify the scientific results accuracy concerning both the onset of the morphological stability and the interface response to unsteady perturbations.