About this Abstract |
Meeting |
MS&T23: Materials Science & Technology
|
Symposium
|
15th Symposium on Green and Sustainable Technologies for Materials Manufacturing and Processing
|
Presentation Title |
Advanced Manufacturing of Lunar Regolith Simulants for In-Situ Resource Utilization |
Author(s) |
Bai Cui, Xiang Zhang, Shayan Gholami, Yong-Rak Kim, Youngjae Kim |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Bai Cui |
Abstract Scope |
In-situ resource utilization of lunar regolith is critical to success of sustaining a human presence on the lunar surface, such as producing both structural and functional components on the moon. In the last five years, our team has been developing novel and sustainable manufacturing technologies using lunar regolith simulants. The first technology uses spark plasma sintering (SPS) process for almost complete densification of lunar regolith simulants to produce high-strength structural components. The effect of SPS temperature and pressure on the densification behavior, phase transformation, microstructural evolution, and mechanical properties have been examined by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, nano/micro indentation, and bending tests. More recently, a second technology employs a continuous-wave laser beam to convert lunar regolith simulants to glass materials with promising optical and mechanical properties. The microstructural evolution during laser processing has been studied using electron microscopy, and the optical and mechanical properties of these glass materials are investigated. |