Print Email Facebook Twitter Manufacturing Construction Materials on Mars Title Manufacturing Construction Materials on Mars: A feasibility study on the use of Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) for bulk manufacturing of a viable ISRU Mars construction material using regolith simulant Author Min, Theo (TU Delft Civil Engineering and Geosciences; TU Delft Materials and Environment) Contributor Copuroglu, Oguzhan (mentor) Veer, F.A. (graduation committee) França de Mendonça Filho, F. (graduation committee) Degree granting institution Delft University of Technology Programme Civil Engineering Date 2022-09-09 Abstract For economic, scientific and survival reasons, colonisation of other planets is proposed. Mars is the most suitable place to start. To start an early Martian colony, viable In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) methods of low energy consumption are required to manufacture strong bulk construction materials. Most other studies have used infeasible materials or processes to investigate the possibility of manufacturing construction materials on Mars. This study investigated answers to this problem and assessed the feasibility thereof under strict requirements. A literature study has specified Martian regolith as the optimal raw resource. The use of water was not feasible. Simulants MGS-1 and JEZ-1 were used as materials analogous to Martian regolith. Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) has been chosen as the optimal production method considering Martian regolith and the environment. An experimental study has verified the feasibility of the proposed material combined with the proposed method. Standard compressive tests, CT, SEM, SEM-EDS, DSC-TGA, Taguchi Design, MSEL and SPS, accompanied by standard measurements, yielded the following information: uniaxial compressive strength, density (distribution), macro porosity, microstructure, elemental composition, compaction, and energy requirement. Both simulant types were subject to three modifications: particle size, particle size reduction method and drying. Four SPS parameters have been analysed: temperature, duration, applied coating and applied pressure. The minimum required compressive strength of 1.9 MPa was readily achieved. A maximum compressive strength of 137 MPa was found with an average of 48.50 MPa. Combined with the possible shape geometries of SPS, the manufactured material is expected to be structurally applicable. The measured theoretical energy requirement was 17.07 GJ/m3. The applied energy use was 2.72 TJ/m3. A reference dome requires a feasible theoretical 89.5 kW or infeasible applied 14.3 MW for one year. The latter value was elevated due to experimental factors. The actual energy requirement of a Martian mission is expected to be closer to the theoretical energy requirement due to efficiency improvements. Water vapour was produced during sintering. This is a vital benefit to a Martian colony. To conclude, ISRU bulk construction material manufacturing on Mars, for early colony development, is possible with regolith simulant and SPS. Subject SPSMartian regolithISRUMarsFeasibilityStrengthConstruction MaterialsTaguchi To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ed1f6110-c7f6-4103-b115-8b1675329c91 Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights © 2022 Theo Min Files PDF Thesis_Theo_Jan_Min_TU_De ... ressed.pdf 206.61 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:ed1f6110-c7f6-4103-b115-8b1675329c91/datastream/OBJ/view