NASA partners with 3DCERAM for space-testing of ceramic AM parts
The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, in collaboration with Jacobs Space Exploration Group, has ordered a C1000 Flexmatic Ceramic Additive Manufacturing machine from 3DCERAM Sinto. It was also stated that 3DCERAM has been added as a partner working with NASA.
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The C1000 Flexmatic will be used to produce small and large samples of new and innovative materials that will be tested in space and other extreme environments.
The first parts will tested under the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) programme. This will involve the sample parts being secured to a panel that will be mounted outside of the International Space Station in an attempt to study the effects of outer space on additively manufactured products.
It was reported that 3DCERAM Sinto Inc, the company’s US facility located in Grand Ledge, will produce twenty sample parts that will be launched to the space station for the MISSE programme in 2025. These parts will be evaluated as potential ceramic materials that may one day be used on the outside of vehicles in space.
The samples will remain in space for six months in order to gain knowledge of the additively manufactured ceramic material’s ability to withstand the space environment. These tests will demonstrate the effects of in-space environmental exposures, such as zero gravity and radiation from the sun.
Once the ceramic materials and manufacturing processes are characterised in space, flight-worthy hot structures and heat shields could be manufactured on the C1000 Flexmatic, stated 3DCERAM.
