A small amount of simulated crushed Martian rock mixed with a titanium alloy made a stronger, high-performance material in a 3D-printing process that one day could be used on Mars to make tools or rocket parts. The parts were made by Washington State University researchers with as little as 5 percent up to 100 percent Martian regolith, a black powdery substance meant to mimic the rocky, inorganic material found on the surface of Mars.
High-Martian content materials would be useful in making coatings to protect equipment from rust or radiation damage. “In space, 3D printing is something that has to happen if we want to think of a manned mission because we really cannot carry everything from here,” said Professor Amit Bandyopadhyay at WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. “And if we forgot something, we cannot come back to get it.”
Bandyopadhyay first demonstrated the feasibility of this idea in 2011 when his team used 3D printing to manufacture parts from lunar regolith, simulated crushed Moon rock, for NASA. For this study, published in the International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology, Bandyopadhya and his team used a powder-based 3D printer to mix the simulated Martian rock dust with a titanium alloy, a metal often used in space exploration for its strength and heat-resistant properties.
As part of the process, a high-powered laser first heated the materials to over 3,632 °F. Then, the melted mix of Martian regolith-ceramic and metal material flowed onto a moving platform that allowed the researchers to create different sizes and shapes. After the material cooled down, the researchers tested it for strength and durability.
The ceramic material made from 100 percent Martian rock dust cracked as it cooled, but as Bandyopadhyay pointed out, it could still make good coatings for radiation shields as cracks do not matter in that context. But just a little Martian dust, the mixture with 5 percent regolith, not only did not crack or bubble but also exhibited better properties than the titanium alloy alone, which meant it could be used to make lighter weight pieces that could still bear heavy loads.
This study is just a start, Bandyopadhyay said, and future research may yield better composites using different metals or 3D-printing techniques.
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