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Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering

ISSN 2095-0233

ISSN 2095-0241(Online)

CN 11-5984/TH

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Front. Mech. Eng.    2022, Vol. 17 Issue (1) : 6    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-021-0662-2
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Development of lunar regolith composite and structure via laser-assisted sintering
Hua ZHAO1, Lu MENG2, Shaoying LI1, Jihong ZHU1,3(), Shangqin YUAN1,4(), Weihong ZHANG1
1. State IJR Center of Aerospace Design and Additive Manufacturing, School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
2. Beijing Institute of Radio Measurement, Beijing 100854, China
3. Key Laboratory of Metal High Performance Additive Manufacturing and Innovative Design, MIIT China, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
4. Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
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Abstract

Aiming at the exploration and resource utilization activities on the Moon, in situ resource utilization and in situ manufacturing are proposed to minimize the dependence on the ground transportation supplies. In this paper, a laser-assisted additive manufacturing process is developed to fabricate lunar regolith composites with PA12/SiO2 mixing powders. The process parameters and composite material compositions are optimized in an appropriate range through orthogonal experiments to establish the relationship of process–structure–property for lunar regolith composites. The optimal combination of composite material compositions and process parameters are mixing ratio of 50/50 in volume, laser power of 30 W, scanning speed of 3500 mm/s, and scanning hatch space of 0.2 mm. The maximum tensile strength of lunar regolith composites reaches 9.248 MPa, and the maximum depth of surface variation is 120.79 μm, which indicates poor powder fusion and sintering quality. Thereafter, the mechanical properties of laser-sintered lunar regolith composites are implemented to the topology optimization design of complex structures. The effectiveness and the feasibility of this laser-assisted process are potentially developed for future lightweight design and manufacturing of the solar panel installed on the lunar rover.

Keywords in situ manufacturing      laser-assisted powder fusion process      mechanical properties      topological structure design     
Corresponding Author(s): Jihong ZHU,Shangqin YUAN   
Just Accepted Date: 28 February 2022   Online First Date: 28 March 2022    Issue Date: 08 April 2022
 Cite this article:   
Hua ZHAO,Lu MENG,Shaoying LI, et al. Development of lunar regolith composite and structure via laser-assisted sintering[J]. Front. Mech. Eng., 2022, 17(1): 6.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/10.1007/s11465-021-0662-2
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/Y2022/V17/I1/6
Level of parameter r/% p/W v/(mm·s−1) h/mm
1 30/70 20 3000 0.20
2 50/50 25 3500 0.25
3 100/0 30 4000 0.30
Tab.1  Different process parameters (mixing ratio r [PA12/SiO2], laser power p, scanning speed v, and hatch space h) investigated in the orthogonal experiments
Fig.1  SEM images of (a) neat PA12, (b) PA12/SiO2 (50/50) composite powders, and (c) PA12/SiO2 (30/70) composite powders.
Fig.2  DSC curves of neat PA12 and PA12/SiO2 composite powders during the heating–cooling procedure.
Fig.3  TGA and DTG curves of (a) neat PA12, (b) PA12/SiO2 (50/50) composite powders, and (c) PA12/SiO2 (30/70) composite powders.
Material Onset melting temperature/°C Offset melting temperature/°C Melting peak/°C Enthalpy of melting/(J·g−1) Onset recrystallization temperature/°C Offset recrystallization temperature/°C Recrystallization peak/°C Enthalpy of recrystallization/(J·g−1) Glass window width/°C
Neat PA12 181.0 189.2 186.8 101.8 139.4 149.7 143.6 33.3 31.3
PA12/SiO2 (50/50) 181.0 188.3 185.9 28.5 144.1 152.0 149.0 5.5 29.0
PA12/SiO2 (30/70) 181.9 188.0 185.3 18.3 146.4 152.6 150.0 5.2 29.3
Tab.2  Melting and recrystallization parameters of PA12 and PA12/SiO2 composite powders
Material Onset decomposition temperature/°C Offset decomposition temperature/°C Decomposition peak/°C Mass loss/%
Neat PA12 416 457 432 73.5
PA12/SiO2 (50/50) 411 467 440 27.7
PA12/SiO2 (30/70) 408 463 436 17.5
Tab.3  Decomposition parameters of PA12 and PA12/SiO2 composite powders
Fig.4  Engineering stress–strain curves illustrate the influence of process parameters on tensile strength: (a) PA12/SiO2 (30/70), (b) PA12/SiO2 (50/50), and (c) neat PA12.
No. Mixing ratio Laser power Scanning speed Hatch space Tensile strength/MPa Tensile modulus/MPa Poisson’s ratio
1 1 1 1 1 4.024 1676.4 0.23
2 1 2 2 2 4.120 1229.0 0.22
3 1 3 3 3 3.404 673.9 0.23
4 2 1 2 3 8.888 1533.0 0.16
5 2 2 3 1 8.680 2005.5 0.21
6 2 3 1 2 9.248 2270.2 0.20
7 3 1 3 2 16.550 862.8 0.40
8 3 2 1 3 32.018 1509.0 0.40
9 3 3 2 1 46.575 1913.8 0.43
Tab.4  Orthogonal experimental results on the mechanical properties of tensile specimens
Level Mixing ratio Laser power Scanning speed Hatch space
I a) 11.548 29.462 45.290 59.279
II 26.816 44.818 59.583 29.918
III 95.143 59.227 28.634 44.310
Range (R) b) 83.595 29.765 30.949 29.361
Tab.5  Analysis and calculation of the orthogonal experimental results
Fig.5  Trend charts of tensile strength varied with the levels of the factors: (a) mixing ratio, (b) laser power, (c) scanning speed, and (d) hatch space.
Fig.6  (a) 2D surface of PA12/SiO2 specimen built by optimal parameters observed under a digital optical microscope, (b) porosity characterization by 3D depth synthesis and then zoomed in to illustrate in (c).
Fig.7  Topology optimization design and manufacturing with PA12/SiO2 composite powders of the solar panel installed on the lunar rover.
Abbreviations
AM Additive manufacturing
CAD Computer-aided design
DIC Digital image correlation
DLP Digital light processing
DSC Differential scanning calorimetry
DTG Differential thermogravimetry
ESA European Space Agency
SEM Scanning electron microscope
SLS Selective laser sintering
STA Synchronous thermal analyzer
TGA Thermogravimetric analysis
Variables
F External force loading on the structure
h Hatch space
p Laser power
r Mixing ratio
R Influence degree of corresponding factors
Tm Melting peak temperature
Tr Recrystallization peak temperature
v Scanning speed
  
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