Little Office of Research Integrity (LORI)
Canada
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J. Phys.: Condensed Matter (JPCM), 21 (2009) 335104) RW Smith et al
Temperature values given in Figures 1 and 11 for samples processed in the MIR space station (“QUELD-II MIM” data points) are not real measured values. Real measured temperatures were required for accurately determining the relation between diffusion coefficients and temperature, but these temperatures could not be measured because of the problems associated with the thermocouples and mechanical failure during the experiments in space.
The astronaut that performed the experiments on MIR noted that a large number of samples were not fully inserted into the furnace while they were being heated. According to the documents (Final Report) obtained from the Canadian Space Agency, “only 11 of the 37 samples were fully inserted into the furnace and so could be processed as desired”. The lead - gold samples processed on MIR in isolated mode (samples no. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in Table VI-3, page 88, Final Report) were among those samples that were only partially inserted into the furnace. The results obtained from sample # 2, 3, 4, and 5 are used in Figures 1 and 11 in the JPCM paper.
According to the Final Report, these samples did not experience the desired processing temperatures. In the Final Report, it is stated that the experimental results from lead-gold diffusion couples (sample # 1, 2, 3, and 4) “should be of particular concern” (page 101). But this serious concern is not disclosed in JPCM. Instead, the authors refer to the results as “high quality microgravity capillary experiment results”.
Despite the fact that temperatures and diffusion coefficients could not be scientifically determined, and despite the fact that the author of the paper has expressed concerns about the validity of his own experimental results in the Final Report, the data presented in JPCM show a remarkably perfect linear relationship for these samples! The experimental data are too good to be true.
The goal of the paper was "to seek an independent theoretical verification of the high quality experimental estimates of mass diffusion coefficient......", but the theoretical models presented in the paper agree only with a set of experimental data that are fabricated. The credibility of the theoretical models is in question.
We urge the Canadian Space Agency to provide a copy of the final report to the journal, and retract this misleading paper.
Copyright 2012 Little Office of Integrity (LORI). All rights reserved.
Little Office of Research Integrity (LORI)
Canada
retracti