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Completed TRL 6 (started at 4, targeting 6)
The Positrusion ISS Recycler enables recycling of scrap and waste plastics into high-quality filament for 3D printers to enable sustainable in-situ manufacturing on the ISS and future deep-space manned missions. In order to minimize astronaut time required for recycling, mitigate safety risks, and improve the quality of product relative to conventional filament extrusion methods, Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI) has developed a novel "Positrusion" method for processing plastic pieces into filament. The Phase I effort successfully demonstrated Positrusion recycling of 3D-printed scrap ABS and Ultem materials back into filament, establishing the technology at TRL-4. Moreover, testing demonstrated that Positrusion achieves order-of-magnitude improvement in filament dimensional quality compared to commercially-available filament, which not only will improve the performance and reliability of ISS 3D printers but also make Positrusion competitive in terrestrial commercial applications, such as recycling plastic wastes in the home and office into useful 3D printer feedstock. The Phase II effort will deliver a complete ISS recycler payload system configured as an EXPRESS locker payload, flight qualified and at TRL-6. The Positrusion payload will provide recycling services aboard the ISS with operations that are as simple, safe, and reliable as a microwave oven, enabling astronauts to place scraps in the machine, push a button, and then move on to other duties while the recycler automatically processes the part into spooled filament.
Positrusion supports NASA's current efforts aboard the ISS as well as in future deep space missions by providing a facility for recycling scrap plastic parts to form high quality 3D printer-ready feedstock to enable on-orbit manufacture of tools, containers, radiation shielding, and mechanical parts. The installation of this facility will provide launch savings by reducing the launched mass required to restock ISS printers, as well as optimizing the amount of raw material required for deep space missions that utilize NASA's 3D printing. The Positrusion system will also enable recycling of packaging materials and other plastic parts into useful filament, reducing the waste mass that must be deorbited by cargo vehicles. Positrusion process also produces superior filament quality than conventional commercial processes, making it ideally suited to supply any NASA needs for terrestrially produced filament. It is also very efficient for small-batch filament production, reducing the costs and schedule for development and qualification of new filament materials.
Positrusion's produces filament of superior quality compared to conventional commercial processes, is well suited to small-batch filament production with zero wasted material, and uses a simple architecture that is more appropriate for operation by regular 3D-printer users. These attributes make it well suited for part recycling applications in consumer and pro-sumer 3D-printer markets TUI plans to target the aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer, and R&D markets for commercialization of the Positrusion plastics recycling technology.
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