3D-Printed Ceramics Could be Used in Future Space Flights

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Researchers have used a 3D printer to create customized ceramic parts that are strong, lightweight and handle heat better than many metals, but that do not crack easily like some traditional ceramics. The development could open the door to a new class of ceramic-body or ceramic-engine jets, said Tobias Schaedler, senior scientist at HRL Laboratories in Malibu, California.

"If you go very fast, about 10 times speed of sound within the atmosphere, then any vehicle will heat up tremendously because of air friction," Schaedler told space.com. "People want to build hypersonic vehicles and you need ceramics for the whole shell of the vehicle."

The team created a resin formulation that can be 3-D printed into parts of virtually any shape and size. That part is then fired in a high-temperature kiln overnight, resulting in a fully-dense ceramic that is 10 times stronger than similar materials and can withstand temperatures in excess of 3,092 Fahrenheit (1,700 degrees Celsius).

The method could help rocket and satellite designers who have to make lots of special small parts that are capable of resisting the heating that occurs during high velocity air friction, as well as high temperatures generated by the exhaust during takeoff, space.com reported.

A form of ceramic called alumina is being used in new ion propulsion drive, which uses electricity to heat gas and generate ions, according to Charlie Spahr, executive director of the American Ceramics Council.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/3D_Pr ... s_999.html

Yes, I read about it on the MIT Technology review website. Additive manufacturing is making great progress and can be used to make spare parts on future space missions.

With 3-D printing the applications are endless.

Yes, there is great progress in making medical implants and hopefully body parts.

Metal matrix composite ceramics are already used for making fans/blades for jet engines, so if they could be printed and sintered, that would be an advance.

That being said, as far as heat shielding is concerned, it would be nice to print off heat shield panels, as opposed to using tiles as were used on the space shuttle.

Wow, amazing what 3D printers can do.

I think they used small panels as they have to be replaced for the slightest defect. So lots of little things is cheaper to replace.

But saying that if they can recycle the material to remake a new one or the manufacturing cost is the expensive part not the materials one big panel would make more sense.

The tiles were made of coated aerogel materials. Think of a solid matrix where most of the space is trapped air. Back when the shuttle program first started, the process to make aerogel tiles of uniform consistency was not completely developed like it is today. The old manufacturing designs likely restricted the size of the tiles. Larger tiles would likely have had less uniformity to them. One hot spot in the wrong place and you have a major problem...

As for 3-D printing aerogel materials, it would be difficult because the aerogel process would have to be modified in the printing. Part of the process that would need to be done during the structural printing is to remove the solvent from the matrix (usually a freeze-drying process) without shrinking the material or damaging the surface pore system. One possible method would be to use a non-reactive noble gas to slowly nudge the solvent out while still supporting the solid matrix component. However, that would add to the cost. There is a fine line to removing the solvent. If the material shrinks in volume (ie solvent removed too quickly or allowed to air dry), it is now called an xerogel and will not likely have the same thermal protection properties of the intended aerogel product. The 3-D aerogel printing process will likely require quite a bit of R&D time to perfect.

If you want a challenge, try 3-D printing this material in one step: Carbon based aerogels have been produced and then subjected to intense pressure and temperature to make diamond aerogels. This is the next evolutionary phase in aerogel material engineering.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/articl ... -ever-made