Utilizing Additive Manufacturing to Improve Materials Designed for Extreme Environments

Developing resilient materials for in-space applications and extreme environments is essential to produce components that are more reliable and last longer. Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging field that offers many unique capabilities compared to traditional manufacturing techniques. Of these capabilities, the ability to control fundamental properties of the material during production, such as the microstructure, is particularly useful to produce better materials. The goal of this research is to investigate the use of AM to actively control microstructure in metals during manufacturing and study how this affects material performance. Initially, a detailed investigation into the degree to which the microstructure can be controlled using various AM techniques and processing conditions will be performed. The second phase of this work is to identify the most promising AM techniques for microstructure control. These techniques will then be used to control the microstructure of components and test how the mechanical properties and resistance to harsh environments are affected. Finally, the performance of these AM components will be compared to traditionally manufactured components to determine how the performance changed. This work will improve the fundamental understanding of using AM for microstructure control, and how this control can be used to enhance material performance in extreme environments. The principal application of this approach is using AM to tailor components for specific extreme environments, resulting in improved materials for a variety of space technology applications.

Developing resilient materials for in-space applications and extreme environments is essential to produce components that are more reliable and last longer. Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging field that offers many unique capabilities compared to traditional manufacturing techniques. Of these capabilities, the ability to control fundamental properties of the material during production, such as the microstructure, is particularly useful to produce better materials. The principal application of this approach is using AM to tailor components for specific extreme environments, resulting in improved materials for a variety of space technology applications.

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