School of Engineering Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 182 3D Printing with Lunar Soil: Pioneering Sustainable Lunar Surface Construction Supervisor: DUAN Molong / MAE Student: SARKAR Manjori / AE Course: UROP 1100, Spring In-situ Resource Utilisation is an essential approach in developing human infrastructure on the lunar surface for long-term human habitation. Transporting building materials from Earth to the moon is neither costeffective nor environmentally-friendly for long-term ongoing lunar development and exploration, thus additive manufacturing stands as a preferred route for development, utilizing lunar resources on-site as building material. This report outlines the designs for lunar additive manufacturing with solar heat energy carried out by the research team. Furthermore, this report also lays ground work for future research directions undertaken by the team focusing on material properties optimization of lunar regolith through reviewing suitable composites as well as the different engineering contexts in which they can be applicable. Additive Manufacturing of Continuous Carbon Fiber Supervisor: DUAN Molong / MAE Student: CHAN Yat Long Ariel / COMP Course: UROP 1100, Spring UROP 2100, Summer This report modifies an 6-axis 3D printer for 3D printing continuous basalt fiber-reinforced thermoplastics using in-situ impregnation and polyactic acid as matrix. A custom automatic fiber feeder system prototype is also tested to improve automation of the 3D printing process. Target properties for a suitable thermoset resin for printing continuous fiber-reinforced polymers is set, including curing process, viscosity, curing temperature, tensile strength after curing, flexural strength after curing, and flexural modulus after curing. Mechanisms for a custom continuous carbon fiber-reinforced polymer 3D printer with thermoset resin matrix were investigated, with the aim of improving tensile strength and durability of current thermoplasticbased 3D prints. Possible bionic wing designs inspired by dragonfly wings were also explored. Additive Manufacturing of Continuous Carbon Fiber Supervisor: DUAN Molong / MAE Student: LUO Koukou / CPEG Course: UROP 1100, Fall Although carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) offer superior mechanical properties, traditional manufacturing methods face limitations in shape complexity and high production costs. While short carbon fiber 3D printing has emerged as an alternative, it shows only slight improvements over pure plastics due to fiber discontinuity. This study explores continuous carbon fiber 3D printing using PLA as the matrix material, focusing on printing precision and printing parameters. An in-situ impregnation 3D printer is used to print different testing objects. Temperature control (200-230°C) and layer parameters are investigated to optimize fiber impregnation and interlayer bonding strength. The findings contribute to advancing sustainable manufacturing methods for high-performance composite materials.
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