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<p>As proven by NASA’s Apollo 12 mission, lunar dust erosion is a major obstacle yet to be overcome by space agencies. While Aluminum 6061 (Al6061) is a potential choice for structural material for future lunar exploration, it lacks substantial erosive wear resistivity. In our recent study, directed energy deposition (DED)-based additive manufacturing method was used to fabricate TiC-reinforced (3 and 10%) aluminum metal matrix composite (MMC) with optimized process parameters to improve wear resistance. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and white light interferometry (WLI) were performed to reveal the significant differences in microstructure and wear resistance of additively manufactured and commercially available Al6061-T0 samples. Reinforcing TiC particles played a crucial role in reducing porosities in AM parts and enhancing the overall hardness of MMC by grain refinements through a non-equilibrium solidification process. A custom-developed erosion testing rig was leveraged to evaluate the wear resistance of fabricated MMCs against the lunar mare dust simulant and a 65.8 % increase in erosion resistance was recorded compared to commercially available Al6061-T0. This suggests that the additive manufacturing-based fabrication route could be a viable option to develop parts with enhanced surface durability for space application, particularly in future lunar explorations.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>

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Exploring the erosion resistance of Al6061 metal matrix composite fabricated via additive manufacturing for future lunar exploration

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年1月22日

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  • Pial Das,
  • Emil Umerov,
  • Nicholas Dyrstad-Cincotta,
  • Md Touhidul Islam Rimon,
  • Matthew Mazurkivich,
  • Sara Rengifo,
  • William Scott,
  • Yachao Wang,
  • Sougata Roy

摘要

As proven by NASA’s Apollo 12 mission, lunar dust erosion is a major obstacle yet to be overcome by space agencies. While Aluminum 6061 (Al6061) is a potential choice for structural material for future lunar exploration, it lacks substantial erosive wear resistivity. In our recent study, directed energy deposition (DED)-based additive manufacturing method was used to fabricate TiC-reinforced (3 and 10%) aluminum metal matrix composite (MMC) with optimized process parameters to improve wear resistance. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and white light interferometry (WLI) were performed to reveal the significant differences in microstructure and wear resistance of additively manufactured and commercially available Al6061-T0 samples. Reinforcing TiC particles played a crucial role in reducing porosities in AM parts and enhancing the overall hardness of MMC by grain refinements through a non-equilibrium solidification process. A custom-developed erosion testing rig was leveraged to evaluate the wear resistance of fabricated MMCs against the lunar mare dust simulant and a 65.8 % increase in erosion resistance was recorded compared to commercially available Al6061-T0. This suggests that the additive manufacturing-based fabrication route could be a viable option to develop parts with enhanced surface durability for space application, particularly in future lunar explorations.

Graphical Abstract