EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

NASA is expanding the plans for the future of moon exploration, within the next few years, after the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, humans will come back to the Moon. The Italian Space Agency is actively contributing studying with Thales Alenia Space Italia technologies, materials and processes to ensure a safe exploration for temporary and permanent habitats on the lunar surface.
ASI is...

Space structures has to withstand the harsh environment providing protection to the spacecraft and/or the human shelter. These structures have to provide to the hardware and humans multiple functions such as thermal protection, electromagnetic compatibility, debris shielding, etc.
Typically, multi-layered sandwich structures are adopted and they are required to be reusable, lightweight and...

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) exhibit superior mechanical properties combining high mechanical strength with a higher elastic strain limit in comparison with crystalline metals [1]. In addition, they show excellent wear properties and corrosion resistance due to the lack of grain boundaries. The absence of the conventional plastic flow carriers and dislocations inhibits BMGs from plastic...

With the increase of power densities in electronic packages and the requirement for miniaturisation in high power devices applied in satellites there is a strong demand for new materials which combine a high thermal conductivity and a low coefficient of thermal expansion.
A combination of metal reinforced by diamond particles allows to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion...

Soiling is one of the main factors that affects the performance photovoltaics systems worldwide. This phenomenon acts absorbing, reflecting and scattering partially the incoming sunlight, reducing the intensity of radiation that reaches the solar cells. This effect depends on the characteristics of the dust particles such as size, shape, chemical composition, cumulative load of dust and...

One of the newest European additions to the International Space Station (ISS) is the Airbus Bartolomeo payload hosting platform, attached externally to the European Columbus Module. This will provide an unobstructed access to the external space environment offering research opportunities for a wide range of space science applications. One of the Bartolomeo missions under development is Euro...

Flexible optical solar reflectors and multilayer insulation systems for satellites and spacecraft are made of multilayered metal thin films on polymer substrates. In low earth orbit, a satellite typically encounters 6000 thermal cycles of ± 100°C during one year of operation. Due to the different coefficients of thermal expansion between the individual metal layers and the polymer substrate it...

HNBR elastomers are used widely in the oil and gas industry due to their high resistance to chemicals and high temperatures. This characteristic of HNBR is the result of nitrogen bonding and a low degree of unsaturation in the elastomer backbone which make these materials distinguished from other elastomer types. However, they are still aged in extreme environments of high temperature and high...

Lightweight metal and ceramic matrix composites (MMCs and CMCs) reinforced by high-strength continuous fibers emerge as ideal structural materials in several applications, such as automotive, aircraft and aerospace due to their superior high-temperature strength, low density, improved damage tolerance and corrosion resistance.
Today, the most extensively studied CMCs are reinforced by C- and...

Currently, composite materials with SiC as reinforcement emerge as ideal candidates for long-term stable devices withstanding high temperatures and harsh operating environments which are typical for many industrial sectors, such as aerospace, energy production, electronics, catalysis, etc. However, the costly manufacture of such composites is the major restraint to make them marketable.
In...

At elevated temperatures liquid metals are chemically highly reactive. This makes the investigation of these materials and the precise measurement of their (thermophysical) properties very challenging if conventional container- or substrate-based techniques are used.
Containerless levitation techniques are therefore indispensable. They grant access to high temperatures, to the investigation...

As materials for extreme environments, the Nickel-based superalloys and alpha-beta-Titanium-based alloys, as well as gamma-Ti-Al-based alloys find several applications, such as in turbines for aircraft engines. The employed casting processes for this materials are time consuming and costly, making it necessary to perform predictive simulations of the heat and material flow in the melt. Such...

The present study is the state of the art in the thermophysical properties of liquid Al-Ni-based alloys, widely used as functional and structural materials. Manufacturing of simple or complicated parts by different casting processes involve complex interactions between various parameters related to material composition and operating conditions, and often, the manufacture of defect free casting...

Due to their light weight, high strength, increased ductility, large corrosion resistance, and bio-compatibility, Ti-based alloys have raised significant interest in recent years. They are ideal candidates for operation under extreme conditions, such as high temperature or aggressive chemical environment. Thus, Ti-Al alloys are used in a wide range of applications, from turbine blades to...

Bulk metallic glasses are advanced materials that are emerging as an important industrial and commercial material. Their properties can be superior to several conventional Ti-, Al-, or Fe-based alloys. In addition to the traditional casting processes, other production routes that involve the liquid phase of the bulk metallic glass alloys have been established, such as additive manufacturing...

The space industry is rapidly changing. The so-called New Space companies are reducing launch and build costs and making space accessible to new markets. There are major changes in the spacecraft development philosophy with more emphasis on the use of commercial off the shelf parts and miniature satellites as well as advanced manufacturing (e.g. 3D printing). Scientific and exploration...

High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs) show many fascinating properties such as high corrosion resistance and toughness, fatigue and wear resistance, high hardness and yield strengths, high thermal stability.
In particular, the combination of good corrosion-erosion resistance in saline environments of HEAs containing passivating elements was reported to be even superior to traditional alloys. Therefore,...

The concept of multicomponent high-entropy alloys is known [1], according to which high entropy of mixing can stabilize the formation of solid solutions (simple crystal structure of bcc, fcc) during solidification. Stabilization of the solid solution and prevention of the formation of intermetallic phases during solidification is provided by the high entropy of mixing in the solid and liquid...

The development of innovative porous materials with tailored functionalities is relevant in many applied fields, i.e. gas adsorption, filtering, air purification, catalysis, lightweight structural materials. For their peculiarities, these materials are also relevant for technologies and devices supporting long lasting space missions, human planetary exploration and in-situ resources...

Boron-doped molybdenum silicides have been already recognized as attractive candidates for space and ground ultra high-temperature applications far beyond limits of state-of-the-art nickel based superalloys. In this work, we are exploring a new method for a fabrication of Mo-Si-B alloys (as coatings or small bulk components) by utilizing a pressure-less reactive melt infiltration approach. The...

Space applications require reliable components that fulfill their goal while being as light as possible. In the last years, the use of additive manufacturing in the space industry has grown drastically as it allows to produce more complex parts with minimum machining. It led to a reduction of the number of components and allowed the use of tools such as topology optimization to reduce the...

Extended missions to the lunar surface (and beyond) are an aspiration which will need to be supported through a combined scientific and technological progress in in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) and additive manufacturing (AM). The entire lunar surface is covered by an unconsolidated layer of regolith rich in minerals and oxides which is produced by billions of years of meteorite and...

Laser Powder-Bed Fusion (L-PBF) is an advanced additive manufacturing technique, which involves a complex multilayer micro welding process. Depending on the alloy selection and the welding mode, the results in printing high-density material could be significantly different, as the spatter formation and welding plume are interacting during the welding process that cause defects like gas pores,...

For space applications, phase stability under extreme conditions such as high temperature and high pressure should be understood. At the same time, in order to enhance the performance of functional materials, nano materials are prequently used. Therefore, understanding the phase stability of nano materials under extreme conditions should be evaluated. CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagram)...

The European Space Agency is looking into the implementation and use of new materials to enable new applications for space. Polymers and polymer composites specially are part of such focus among others. However, the benefit of new functionalities or capabilities brought by materials shall be assessed against their behavior under the effect of space environment.

In this paper, the status...

The interest towards self-healing materials for space applications has rapidly increased in the last twenty years, as space structures can acquire the ability to autonomously repair after damage thanks to these materials. Nevertheless, space radiation can lead to their degradation and seriously compromise their mechanical and functional performances, hence jeopardizing the spacecraft...

The oxidation performance of ZrB2-SiC composites with addition of YB4 or Y2O3 was studied in static oxidation conditions up to 1650°C as well as under dynamic conditions of oxyacetylene torch facility. Ablation tests were performed at temperatures above 2000°C. The oxidation tests revealed quite different behaviour of materials tested under static and dynamic conditions. Static oxidation...

In this study, dense ZrB2-SiC composites were fabricated using Field Assisted Sintering Technology (FAST). The composites containing 25 vol% SiC particles were prepared by in situ reaction of ZrSi2, B4C and carbon black powders, which is a method to densify ZrB2-based composites at low temperatures. Furthermore, rare-earth (RE) oxides were used to improve the mechanical properties of ZrB2-SiC...