Towards Lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization and In-Space Manufacturing: Additive Manufacturing of Hydrogel-Based Lunar Regolith Pastes
Open accessAbstract
This work proposes a new material formulation utilizing lunar regolith simulants (LHS-1), water, and a hydrogel-forming polymer (Pluronic F127) to produce a hydrogel-based lunar regolith paste suitable for material extrusion Additive Manufacturing (AM). The formulation enables using water as a potential lunar in-situ resource for the first time in literature, considering the recent confirmation of large quantities of water-ice in the shadowed craters around lunar poles and water presence on the Moon's sunlit surface. To systematically investigate the viability of the proposed material feedstock, along with the application of material extrusion AM, this work introduces a three-stage design of experiment (DOE) framework to achieve two fundamental objectives. First, the viable range of lunar regolith simulant in the hydrogel-based material formulation is identified using a categorical quality evaluation of single and multi-layer material depositions. Second, the material's printability window is established in terms of printing speed and extrusion rate for different viable material compositions. This was done using hierarchically designed experiments to evaluate the material in terms of extrudability (i.e., material extrusion consistency in single-layer prints) and buildability as a function of dimensional accuracy and inter-layer fusion of sintered multi-layer builds. Then, the printability of the material beyond simple geometry test specimens was demonstrated by producing several prototype hand tools and lab-scale construction blocks with varying geometrical complexities. Unlike current works using trial-and-error based methods to investigate the viability of other lunar regolith-based materials, the introduced DOE driven framework offers a pathway towards systematically identifying the optimal material compositions and the corresponding process parameters to enable high-quality prints.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Challenges arise due to the low melting point of sulfur, which can cause sulfur concrete structures to melt during Lunar days, limiting its applicability in Lunar conditions.
“However, challenges arise due to the low melting point of sulfur, which can cause sulfur concrete structures to melt during Lunar days, limiting its applicability in Lunar conditions [250,252-254].”
From A comprehensive review of lunar-based manufacturing and construction (2024) · cites this paper as [253]
Even at low concentrations, hydrogel polymers can interact with water, forming a network of hydrogen bonds and altering viscosity and viscoelastic properties of the mixture.
“Even at low concentrations of hydrogel, these polymers can interact with water, forming a network of hydrogen bonds and altering the viscosity and viscoelastic properties of the mixture.”
From A comprehensive review of lunar-based manufacturing and construction (2024) · cites this paper as [253]
A notable concern arises due to the excessive use of DCM, a neurotoxic substance that can vaporize during the mixing process, emitting hazardous outgas that pose a threat in enclosed spaces.
“However, a notable concern arises due to the excessive use of DCM, a neurotoxic substance that can vaporize during the mixing process, emitting hazardous outgas that pose a threat in enclosed spaces [253].”
From A comprehensive review of lunar-based manufacturing and construction (2024) · cites this paper as [253]
Hydrophilic hydrogel-forming polymers can address challenges of solvent for material extrusion.
“As illustrated by Rahman et al. in their study, hydrophilic hydrogel-forming polymers can address these challenges [253].”
From A comprehensive review of lunar-based manufacturing and construction (2024) · cites this paper as [253]
Cites
The lunar regolith: Chemistry, mineralogy and petrology
Papike, J. J., Simon, S. B., & Laul, J. C. (1982) · Reviews of Geophysics · doi:10.1029/rg020i004p00761 · Cited by 345 · see citing works
Solar 3D printing of lunar regolith
Meurisse, A., Makaya, A., Willsch, C., & Sperl, M. (2018) · Acta Astronautica · doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.06.063 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Farries, K. W., Visintin, P., Smith, S. T., & van Eyk, P. (2021) · Construction and Building Materials · doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.123627 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Robust and elastic lunar and martian structures from 3D-printed regolith inks
Jakus, A. E., Koube, K. D., Geisendorfer, N. R., & Shah, R. N. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep44931 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Sintering of micro-trusses created by extrusion-3D-printing of lunar regolith inks
Taylor, S. L., Jakus, A. E., Koube, K. D., Ibeh, A. J., Geisendorfer, N. R., Shah, R. N., & Dunand, D. C. (2018) · Acta Astronautica · doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.11.005 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Compressive deformation of porous lunar regolith
Gualtieri, T., & Bandyopadhyay, A. (2015) · Materials Letters · doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2014.11.153 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A comprehensive review of lunar-based manufacturing and construction
Azami, M., Kazemi, Z., Moazen, S., Dubé, M., Potvin, M.-J., & Skonieczny, K. (2024) · Progress in Aerospace Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.paerosci.2024.101045 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
- Authors
- Rahman, M. H., Hayes, A., Muralidharan, K., Loy, D. A., & Shafae, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Shafae, Mohammed
- Venue
- SSRN Electronic Journal
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023
- ISSN
- 1556-5068 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4320488725
- Cited by
- 1
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Innovations in Concrete and Construction Materials
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Additive Manufacturing Materials and Processes
- Keywords
- lunar in-situ resource utilization, space manufacturing, lunar regolith simulant, Pluronic F127, extrusion-based additive manufacturing, lunar water ice, printability, extrudability, constructability, dimensional accuracy, experimental design, hand tools
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
