Characterizing The Marangoni effect in NASA STDCE-1 experiments

Marangoni stress plays an important role in many industrial applications where a surface tension gradient induces fluid flow. For instance, the Marangoni effect is incorporated in the cleaning process of silicon wafers in integrated circuit etching by applying a chemical gradient. The Marangoni effect can also be induced by a temperature gradient. In order to gain fundamental understanding about Marangoni flow in the absence of gravity, we analyze several different experimental videos of Marangoni experiments during the NASA STDCE-1 missions (performed on USML-Spacelab in 1995). We utilize multiple Particle Image Velocimetry and Particle Tracking Velocimetry methods to extract the flow field form NASA STDCE-1 videos and compare the experimental data to the numerical results of the flow-field. Finally, we discuss how our findings about temperature-driven Marangoni flow in the microgravity setting can improve cleaning processes in presence of gravity.