Low Temperature In Space Additive Manufacturing of Metals and Alloys for NASA Missions

The overall goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of 3D printing of ferrous, Cobalt, and Nickel-based alloys, using UHV’s innovative low temperature 3D printing technology for metals and alloys. This technology is based on electrochemical (co-)deposition of metallic ions at the tips of an array of electrolyte-containing nozzles, which are controlled by CAD files from a computer program. This technology has been successfully applied to 3D printing of Copper for printing very large area (several meters in size) printed circuit boards and flexible plastics. In the proposed project, the feasibility of applying this technology to alloys will be investigated, in particular iron-based, nickel-based and cobalt-based alloys.