About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Materials and Manufacturing in Space
|
| Presentation Title |
Inkless Additive Nanomanufacturing of Electronics in Microgravity for On-Demand In-Space Manufacturing |
| Author(s) |
Colton Bevel, Aarsh Patel, Steven Peeples, Jennifer M. Jones, Curtis Hill, Masoud Mahjouri-Samani |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Masoud Mahjouri-Samani |
| Abstract Scope |
Future long-duration space missions require on-demand manufacturing of electronics to reduce spare-part inventories, minimize resupply missions, and enable rapid repair of critical systems. Here, we present the first demonstration of an inkless, dry-additive nanomanufacturing (Dry-ANM) process for printed electronics under microgravity conditions. A custom flight payload generated, transported, deposited, and laser-sintered silver and copper nanoparticles during 25-second microgravity intervals over a two-day parabolic flight campaign. Identical terrestrial samples were fabricated using the same processing parameters to isolate the effects of microgravity. The microgravity-printed samples exhibited electrical performance comparable to or better than their terrestrial counterparts, with silver and copper traces achieving resistivities as low as 13.8 μΩ·cm and 160.8 μΩ·cm, respectively. These results demonstrate the feasibility of inkless additive nanomanufacturing for autonomous, on-demand fabrication of electronics in space, representing an important step toward sustainable in-space manufacturing for future exploration missions. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |