3D printing will be a critical technology in space research, both for its ability to create almost every object, but also because it can at least partially use in-situ resources. The more of these space resources are used in pressure, the more the mechanical properties change from that on earth, which leads to problems with tensile or pressure resistance. However, a new paper from researchers at Concordia University has hit a new milestone about how much mondregolith can be used in a mixed starting material for additive production so that it can be used even more material from the region and can save more starting costs than ever.
Research Mixed Mondregolith Simultant, the material is to imitate how the material on the surface works on the moon, with polyether-ter-keton, which is generally known as Peek. Peek is a thermoplastic who is already widespread in 3D printing, but earlier efforts to combine it with Mondregolith have stalled. They suffered from extrusion problems when the regolite, which consisted of hard individual particles, made it difficult to extruded without simply blowing dust anywhere. Additional problems resulted from the porosity of the printed material, which led to a reduced tensile strength and increased brittleness.
Changes to the 3D printing method seemed to be the answer to these problems. In the newspaper, two most important technological progress was discussed – a screw configuration and another kind of “raft” with which the printed material was connected to the print bed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QX0WJ1LVIC
Fraser discusses how resources on the moon will be so important for our expansion of the solar system.
The combination of mondregolith simulant (LRS) with PEEK is a tricky business. The researchers, led by Mohammed Azami by Concordia's Electrical Engineering Department, decided to use a new “Twin Screw” configuration. The torque was a factor for earlier iterations of the mixing machine, since a higher regolith content meant a higher torque and finally the overall percentage of the regolith mixed with the insight to around 30%. With the new configuration, the researchers were able to receive concentrations of up to 50% of the regolith in combination with the PEEK.
However, when these parts were printed, they began to delaminate and warp. While only Peek itself is common in prints, the addition of the regoliths tightened the problem. To solve it, the researchers used a “raft” – a kind of intermediate layer to support the pressure connection to the main pressure plate. In their case, they used a different type of thermopolymer, which is known as a polyether ketone ketone (PEKK) as a raft, and implemented a dual-nozzle system in which the PEKK was printed using a nozzle and the combination LRS/PEEK was printed with the other.
After receiving the higher concentrations of LRS and overcome the problem of delamination/distortion, the researchers decided to destroy their rehearsals. The annealing process seemed to improve some of the mechanical properties of the pressure, but only to a certain point. At higher concentrations of LRS, the advantages of the tempern due to the increased number of regolith particles were not so obviously due to the Peek polyhykette, which benefits from the temporary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olfekzuem
Fraser discusses why the 3D printing for space research is so critical.
As with all good papers for 3D printing, the authors then examined the mechanical properties of their edition. While the stiffness increased significantly, the tensile strength, which was tightened at higher LRS concentrations. The combined material also had a reduced “stretch during the break” (ie increased brittleness), but ultimately the researchers found that the best compromise for using in-situ material was around 60% pee and 40% regolith. This mixture does not suffer from some of the more serious deteriorations in the mechanical properties, while it still uses as many local resources as possible.
There is undoubtedly still room for improvements here, as this is very early in experimenting with these materials. In the future, the researchers are planning to combine the LRS with various polymers and to carry out more of their test / manufacture in simulated moon environments such as a vacuum and a reduced gravity. It will take a while for the 3D print to make up a large percentage of the material used on the moon, but this time is certainly on the way, and we will get there at some point.
Learn more:
M. Azami et al. – Additive production of PEEK/Mondregolith composite materials for sustainable moon production
Ut – quality of the 3D print with mondregolith varies depending on the starting material
Ut -3 -d printing on the moon. Insert from the regolith to useful objects and structures
UT – NASA sends a 3D printer for mondregolith and more to the ISS