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Studying Near-Critical And Super-Critical Fluids In Reduced Gravity, Christian Hawkins, Ana Oprisan, Carole Lecoutre-Chabot, Yves Garrabos, Daniel Beysens

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Critical and supercritical fluids have a variety of applications, from use as machine lubricants in high pressure or high temperature environments to the manufacturing of materials such as aerogel. The optical properties of fluids undergo rapid changes near the critical point resulting in a rapid increase in turbidity known as critical opalescence. These optical changes can be used to probe the universality of critical behavior. As a fluid approaches the critical point, the compressibility rapidly increases. In a gravitational field, this increase in compressibility leads to near-critical fluids stratifying by phase and density, making it difficult to observe the optical …