Production of Novel Structural Glasses from Planetary Materials

Human exploration and development of space is currently limited by the high cost and technical difficulty of transporting materials from Earth to develop local infrastructure. The proposed research will enhance the development of new structural materials which can be produced in large quantities using mineral-based resources which are locally available and abundant on the Moon, and potentially on other planetary bodies. The innovation is to apply novel glass and glass fiber processing technologies to iron-calcium aluminosilicate lunar regolith materials. The Phase I research will: (i) establish synthesis conditions and identify critical process-property relationships, including effects of composition, needed for production of structural glasses and glass fibers from lunar regolith, (ii) measure the mechanical properties and thermal stability of selected prototype glasses, and (iii) identify requirements for large-scale production of the materials. The Phase II R&D will identify requirements for and implement pilot-scale production of the glass materials for applications testing by NASA.