Selective Separation Sintering (SSS) -An Additive Manufacturing Approach for Fabrication of Ceramic and Metallic Parts with Applications in Planetary Construction

摘要

Selective separation sintering (SSS) is a powder layer-based additive manufacturing method that can build parts of various scale from ceramics and metals. This can be done at relatively high speed and with minimal machine complexity. In the SSS process, a thin wall of high temperature separator powder material is deposited within the base material powder to form a barrier on the boundary of each layer. This barrier creates a separation between the part and surrounding material, which allows for the separation of the part from the surrounding powder after sintering is complete. Preliminary experiments with ceramic and metal base materials have demonstrated the feasibility of the approach. The method has also been used with JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant material and a potential in-situ separator powder to produce interlocking ceramic tiles. These tiles may be utilized for planetary construction of various structures including landing pads.