| Abstrakt: |
A variety of products made from lunar resources will be required for a lunar outpost. These products might be made by adapting existing processing techniques to the lunar environment, or by developing new techniques unique to the moon. In either case, processing techniques used on the moon will have to have a firm basis in basic principles of materials science and engineering, which can be used to understand the relationships between composition, processing, and properties of lunar‐derived materials. These principles can also be used to optimize the properties of a product, once a more detailed knowledge of the lunar regolith is obtained. Using three types of ceramics (monolithic glasses, glass fibers, and glass‐ceramics) produced from lunar simulants, we show that the application of materials science and engineering principles is useful in understanding and optimizing the mechanical properties of ceramics on the moon. We also demonstrate that changes in composition and/or processing can have a significant effect on the strength of these materials. |
