Investigation on Wetting and Melting Behavior of Lunar Regolith Simulant for Additive Manufacturing Application

摘要

Applying in-situ resources combined with Additive Manufacturing allows for on-demand fabrication in space. Regarding the powder-based Additive Manufacturing, wettability of the melt material affects the properties of the final product. In this study, viscosity temperatures, dilatometric sintering curves and contact angles of JSC-2 lunar simulant are studied via Hot Stage Microscopy. Experiments are conducted using platinum substrates as well as pre-sintered regolith platforms in the temperature range of 25 degrees C to 1450 degrees C. Furthermore, the relation of the viscosity temperatures and the contact angles are discussed.