Members of UAH's Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) have developed a remoted-controlled concrete mixer to test concrete bonding in a weightless environment. Their mixer is one of four student experiments on board Endeavour in a Get-Away-Special payload.
Lyle Jalbert -- principal investigator for the experiment and payload manager for GAS-CAN 503 -- said the $26,000 project could help researchers determine whether concrete can be used in space developments like the Space Station.
"In order to use concrete on those sites, we have to understand what the antigravity will do to it," Jalbert said.
The experiment also may help improve the strength and duribility of concrete made on Earth.
"If we can better understand how the chemical structure is changed or altered (by the absence of gravity) this could lead to improvements."
With financial backing from Master Builders Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, the UAH team spent six years designing and building an innovative cement mixer that includes an electric motor and a small acrylic mixing chamber. The experiment will be activated by remote from controls inside the UAH GAS-CAN.
Once activated, the cement mix will be stirred dry for several seconds before the water is injected as a fine mist. The concrete mixture will be mixed for 10 minutes, then allowed to set for 10 days.
Jalbert, who is pursuing a doctorate in physics at UAH, said figuring out how to mix cement in microgravity was no easy task for the student team of researchers.
"Microgravity is a whole new world," he said. "You can't just pour water in."
Jalbert said the team finally devised a system using and accumulator -- or a large syringe -- to deliver water to the dry mixture. As gas expands in one end of the syringe, water is pushed out.
While still aboard Endeavour, Jalbert's team will have no contact with controls.
After Endeavor returns to Earth, Master Builders researchers will study the strength and pore structure of the concrete mixture.
