A SERIES OF METAL OXIDE FOAM TEST SPECIMENS (I.E. NANOPARTICLE-BASED TITANIUM DIOXIDE (TIO2) AQUEOUS FOAM EMULSIONS OR INKS ) WILL BE PRINTED IN MICROGRAVITY ( G) USING TWO PARABOLIC AIRCRAFT FLIGHTS TO BE PROVIDED UNDER CONTRACT TO THE ZERO GRAVITY CORPORATION. THE PAYLOAD APPARATUS CONSISTS OF AN IN-HOUSE BUILT PNEUMATIC-BASED EXTRUSION 3D PRINTER THAT WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO AN EXISTING PAYLOAD FRAME AND ENCLOSURE. THE PROPOSED FOAMS HAVE PROMISE FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS INCLUDING USE FOR RADIATION SHIELDING FOR FUTURE HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION MISSIONS USE IN SOLAR CELL ARRAYS AND/OR BATTERIES USE IN EMBEDDED SENSORS AND FOR WATER AND/OR AIR PHOTOCATALYTIC TREATMENT. MECHANICAL ELECTRICAL AND MICROSTRUCTURAL POST-FLIGHT CHARACTERIZATION DATA FROM OUR LAB FOR THE G-PRINTED SPECIMENS WILL BE COMPARED WITH SIMILAR DATA FOR A SERIES OF OTHERWISE IDENTICAL BASELINE EARTH-PRINTED SPECIMENS. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT WHEN THE FOAMS ARE CREATED AND PRINTED IN MICROGRAVITY THEY SHOULD BE MORE STABLE AND MORE UNIFORM THAN WHEN SIMILAR PROCESSES ARE USED TO PRINT AND POST-TREAT THE FOAM UNDER NORMAL EARTH GRAVITY CONDITIONS. ALSO BASED ON THE NAKAHARA EFFECT WHICH STATES THAT MEMORY CAN BE IMPRINTED ON PASTES OR EMULSIONS WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE G CONDITIONS WILL INDUCE DISTINCT MEMORY EFFECTS ON THE PRINTED SPECIMENS. SUCH PROCESSING-SPECIFIC MEMORY EFFECTS MAY BE MANIFESTED IN DISTINCT MECHANICAL AND MICROSTRUCTURAL PROPERTIES. PREVIOUS RESEARCH OF FOAMS IN G ENVIRONMENTS HAS BEEN LARGELY FOCUSED ON SIMPLE WET FOAMS (I.E. LIQUID PHASE AND SURFACTANTS). IN ADDITION INITIAL RESEARCH ON 3D PRINTING IN G HAS MAINLY FOCUSED ON FUSED DEPOSITION MODELING OF PLASTICS. OUR PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY COMBINES EMULSION-BASED FOAMS AND SOLUTION-BASED 3D PRINTING RESEARCH IN G CONDITIONS THUS ADVANCING THE STATE OF THE ART AND THE FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING BY MARRYING SOLUTION-BASED 3D PRINTING AT ROOM TEMPERATURE AND ADVANCED FOAM TECHNOLOGY. IN PARTICULAR OUR FIGHT TEST OBJECTIVES ARE TO STUDY: (A) THE EFFECTS OF SHEAR STRESS ON THE FOAM STABILITY INSIDE THE NOZZLE DURING G PRINTING AND (B) THE EFFECT OF FLOW RATE ON THE PRINTED SPECIMEN DIMENSIONS UNDER G CONDITIONS. THE PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY OF THIS PROJECT IS RELEVANT TO NASA STMD KEY TECHNOLOGY FOCUS AREAS: ADVANCED MATERIALS IN-SPACE MANUFACTURING.
$145,728FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
West Virginia University Research Corporation, Morgantown WV