About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Materials and Manufacturing in Space
|
| Presentation Title |
Cold welding as an in-space fracture repair mechanism |
| Author(s) |
Berk Soykan, C Cem Tasan |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Berk Soykan |
| Abstract Scope |
Cold welding is a solid-state process in which clean metal surfaces bond upon contact in a vacuum at room temperature. While this phenomenon has historically posed a problem in spaceflight, here we propose that it may be a solution to repair needs in lunar and orbital environments. Cold welding is exceptionally well-suited to these conditions where ultrahigh vacuum conditions prevail, resulting in clean, oxide-free fracture surfaces. In this work, we systematically evaluate the effectiveness of cold welding for repairing fractures produced in-vacuum and assess the mechanical behavior of cold-weld-repaired fractures produced under various conditions. Experiments are performed on alloys with spaceflight heritage using in-situ SEM fracture-weld-fracture tests coupled with post-mortem fractography and cross-sectional SEM/EBSD characterization. Effects of fracture type, compressive force, and cross-weld microstructural parameters such as phase mismatch, misorientation, and grain size ratio are also examined. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Joining, Mechanical Properties, Titanium |