Ceramic Material Processing Towards Future Space Habitat: Electric Current-Assisted Sintering of Lunar Regolith Simulant

• Main Authors: Xin Li Phuah, Han Wang, Bruce Zhang, Jaehun Cho, Xinghang Zhang, Haiyan Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-09-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: electric current-assisted sintering; lunar regolith simulant; microstructure; properties
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/13/18/4128

<i>In situ</i> utilization of available resources in space is necessary for future space habitation. However, direct sintering of the lunar regolith on the Moon as structural and functional components is considered to be challenging due to the sintering conditions. To address this issue, we demonstrate the use of electric current-assisted sintering (ECAS) as a single-step method of compacting and densifying lunar regolith simulant JSC-1A. The sintering temperature and pressure required to achieve a relative density of 97% and microhardness of 6 GPa are 700 °C and 50 MPa, which are significantly lower than for the conventional sintering technique. The sintered samples also demonstrated ferroelectric and ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. This study presents the feasibility of using ECAS to sinter lunar regolith for future space resource utilization and habitation.