Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material
Extraterrestrial exploration, represented by Lunar base construction, has been promoted worldwide as a multi-disciplinary, cutting-edge and strategic issue. Herein we proposed a novel extraterrestrial construction material composed of Lunar/Martian regolith simulants and only 4 wt% of silicate adhes...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180775 |
| _version_ | 1826109895267581952 |
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| author | Geng, Zifan. Zhang, Lizhi Wu, Zhiwen Huang, Jiale Wang, Xiangyu Tan, Ming Jen She, Wei Zhou, Hao Geng, Guoqing |
| author2 | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering |
| author_facet | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Geng, Zifan. Zhang, Lizhi Wu, Zhiwen Huang, Jiale Wang, Xiangyu Tan, Ming Jen She, Wei Zhou, Hao Geng, Guoqing |
| author_sort | Geng, Zifan. |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Extraterrestrial exploration, represented by Lunar base construction, has been promoted worldwide as a multi-disciplinary, cutting-edge and strategic issue. Herein we proposed a novel extraterrestrial construction material composed of Lunar/Martian regolith simulants and only 4 wt% of silicate adhesive. This silicate-regolith composite can be directly self-hardened in vacuum within 4.5 h without any curing to achieve 29 MPa of hardening strength. Meanwhile, it shows comprehensive durability with stable microstructures and >70 % of residual strength against long-term vacuum exposure, huge temperature difference and intense γ-ray and proton radiations. Its in-situ solidification and durability originate from vacuum dehydration, where silica clusters in solution spontaneously cohere into a solid network with strong connections of silica tetrahedra and bound water. A moderate silicate modulus around 2.5 and appropriate modifications can disperse finer silica clusters to increase oligomer silica units in solution and enhance hardening strength. Compared with lunar geopolymer and other existing extraterrestrial construction materials, this vacuum self-hardening composite allows a cryogenic preparation even below −40 ℃ using diverse regolith with a wide range of compositions and sizes, proposing a facile, durable and versatile solution towards in-situ extraterrestrial constructions. |
| first_indexed | 2025-03-09T09:55:06Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/180775 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-09T09:55:06Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1807752024-10-23T08:06:06Z Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material Geng, Zifan. Zhang, Lizhi Wu, Zhiwen Huang, Jiale Wang, Xiangyu Tan, Ming Jen She, Wei Zhou, Hao Geng, Guoqing School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Singapore Centre for 3D Printing Engineering Extraterrestrial construction Lunar regolith Extraterrestrial exploration, represented by Lunar base construction, has been promoted worldwide as a multi-disciplinary, cutting-edge and strategic issue. Herein we proposed a novel extraterrestrial construction material composed of Lunar/Martian regolith simulants and only 4 wt% of silicate adhesive. This silicate-regolith composite can be directly self-hardened in vacuum within 4.5 h without any curing to achieve 29 MPa of hardening strength. Meanwhile, it shows comprehensive durability with stable microstructures and >70 % of residual strength against long-term vacuum exposure, huge temperature difference and intense γ-ray and proton radiations. Its in-situ solidification and durability originate from vacuum dehydration, where silica clusters in solution spontaneously cohere into a solid network with strong connections of silica tetrahedra and bound water. A moderate silicate modulus around 2.5 and appropriate modifications can disperse finer silica clusters to increase oligomer silica units in solution and enhance hardening strength. Compared with lunar geopolymer and other existing extraterrestrial construction materials, this vacuum self-hardening composite allows a cryogenic preparation even below −40 ℃ using diverse regolith with a wide range of compositions and sizes, proposing a facile, durable and versatile solution towards in-situ extraterrestrial constructions. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China [grant: 2021YFF0500300]; the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province [grant: KYCX23_0235] and the State Scholarship Fund of China Scholarship Council [grant: 202206090145]. 2024-10-23T07:59:01Z 2024-10-23T07:59:01Z 2024 Journal Article Geng, Z., Zhang, L., Wu, Z., Huang, J., Wang, X., Tan, M. J., She, W., Zhou, H. & Geng, G. (2024). Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material. Construction and Building Materials, 449, 138517-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138517 0950-0618 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180775 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138517 2-s2.0-85204980083 449 138517 en Construction and Building Materials © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. |
| spellingShingle | Engineering Extraterrestrial construction Lunar regolith Geng, Zifan. Zhang, Lizhi Wu, Zhiwen Huang, Jiale Wang, Xiangyu Tan, Ming Jen She, Wei Zhou, Hao Geng, Guoqing Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material |
| title | Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material |
| title_full | Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material |
| title_fullStr | Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material |
| title_full_unstemmed | Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material |
| title_short | Silicate-lunar regolith composite: a vacuum self-hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material |
| title_sort | silicate lunar regolith composite a vacuum self hardened and comprehensively durable extraterrestrial construction material |
| topic | Engineering Extraterrestrial construction Lunar regolith |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180775 |
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