Regolith Dust and Radiation-Tolerant Bearing

A radiation-resistant and superhard material for dust-resistant mechanical bearing applications on the lunar surface will be tested and demonstrated under this project.nbsp; This highly incompressible ceramic material is able to be formed into intricate bearing geometries directly from powder to create dense, hard, geometrically precise, and wear-resistant bearing surfaces.nbsp; This new material is more than 30% lighter than the chrome steel commonly used for bearings, and about 15% lighter than Nitinol, which NASA has been recently investigating for bearing applications.nbsp; A roller bearing using this new material that is tolerant of regolith dust will be designed, fabricated, and performance tested.nbsp; Radiation resistance testing of this material will also be performed in partnership with Idaho National Laboratory.nbsp; Performance testing of assembled bearings from this material will be tested for lunar dust resistance, and at temperature extremes ranging from -240 C to 130 deg;C.nbsp; nbsp;At the conclusion of the Phase II, a functioning roller bearing would have been tested in the simulated conditions and delivered to NASA for further evaluation.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;