Washington, Jan 10: Students from the college of engineering at Virginia Tech in the US have made highly durable bricks composed of a lunar rock-like material, which one day might be used to build dwellings in colonies on the moon.
The invention won the In-Situ Lunar Resource Utilization materials and construction category award from the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES).
The team of students, under the advisement of Kathryn Logan, a professor in the materials science and engineering department, designed the brick as a potential building tool for future colonies on the moon.
Initially designed to construct a dome, the building material is composed of a lunar rock-like material mixed with powdered aluminum that can be molded into any shape.
Design work on the early-development lunar bricks was based on previous work by the college of engineering student team`s adviser Kathryn Logan, a professor of materials science and engineering and the Virginia Tech Langley Professor at the National Institute of aerospace in Hampton, Virginia.
Logan`s prior research entailed mixing powdered aluminum and ceramic materials to form armor plating for tanks funded through a department of defense contract.
"I theorized that if I could do this kind of reaction to make armor, then I could use a similar type of reaction to make construction materials for the moon," Logan said.
Since actual lunar rock, known as regolith, is scarce, the students used volcanic ash from a deposit on Earth along with various minerals and basaltic glass, similar to rock on the lunar surface, according to Eric Faierson, a doctoral student who led the Virginia Tech team.
During initial experiments, the simulated regolith and aluminum powder were mixed and placed inside a shallow aluminum foil crucible.
A wire was inserted into the mixture, which was then heated to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit triggering a reaction called self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), according to Logan.
The reaction caused the material to form a solid brick. A ceramic crucible was used in later experiments to form complex curved surfaces.
Once the student team had created a brick, they found that it was almost as strong as concrete under various pressure tests.
According to Faierson, one-square inch of the brick could withstand the gradual application of 2,450 pounds.
This strength would enable it to withstand an environment where gravity is a fraction of the pull on Earth.
ANI
