Laura Griffiths
Parts printed in recycled titanium powder usingLithography-based Metal Manufacturing
An 18-month collaboration with the European Space Agency has resulted in a successful project exploring additive manufacturing for the lunar environment, says metal 3D printing company Incus.
The joint effort alongside prime contractor OHB System AG set out to establish the possibility of a zero-waste workflow using lunar resources and scrap materials recovered from old mission or satellite debris, eventually contaminated by lunar dust, to 3D print spare parts using Incus’ Lithography-based Metal Manufacturing (LMM).
The project’s overarching ambition is to show the feasibility of creating a sustainable human base on the moon. Naturally, the idea of leveraging lunar manufacturing to one day support a human habitat is considered a challenge due to the atmosphere, gravity, temperature, radiation, and the potential contamination of moon dust.
Dr. Martina Meisnar, Materials and Processes Engineer at ESA explained: “Considering the challenge of bringing humans back to the moon and building a base, the topic of in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) is gaining significant momentum. Projects like this, recently completed by Incus and project partners, demonstrate that manufacturing methods like LMM are very good candidates to support such an endeavour.”
Incus claims parts printed on its Hammer Lab35 in recycled titanium powder maintained ‘proper part quality’, and demonstrated a high level of strength, comparable to metal injection moulded titanium parts standards (1000-1050 MPa).
"This project has proven that LMM technology is able to use recycled powder for the feedstock material and provide sustainable zero-waste workflow," said Incus CEO Dr. Gerald Mitteramskogler. "We expect that further developments in metal recycling technologies will open the way to metal materials with more settled sintering processes for the lunar environment."
Unlike direct metal laser AM processes, Incus’ LMM technology does not rely on the use of gas-atomised powders or support structures, and instead uses a paste or suspension as feedstock. LMM is therefore able to print scrap metals using pre-mixed feedstock. The project also included the development of a green binder and the optimisation of pre- and post-processing steps to print and test different demonstrators for future lunar applications. It also explored potential in situ contamination by using lunar regolith simulant.
Francesco Caltavituro, System Engineer for the project at OHB said: "The use of local lunar resources, as well as the recycling of old spacecraft, are essential for a sustainable and Earth-independent moon base. Through this project, it was proven that the LMM technology is able to use recycled powder sources as feedstock material. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that contaminations for the powder sources by using lunar regolith simulant are manageable, especially from the perspective of the printing process. With those aspects in mind, as well as the future challenges already foreseen and anticipated, upcoming research and development will be able to continue and open-up further the way towards a sustainable moon settlement finally released from Earth dependency."
Dr. Martin Schwentenwein, Head of Material Development at Lithoz, the ceramics additive manufacturing specialist which Incus spun out of in 2019, said the project showed that “lithography-based AM techniques are among the most promising candidates to let 3D printing in space become a reality in the future.”
