3D Printing of Damage‐tolerant Martian Regolith Simulant‐based Geopolymer Composites

• DOI: 10.1016/j.addma.2022.103025
• Publication Date: 2022-07-08T13:03:49Z
• Authors: Siqi Ma; Shuai Fu; Qikun Wang; Lei Xu; Peigang He; Chengyue Sun; Xiaoming Duan; Zuhua Zhang; Dechang Jia; Yu Zhou
• Keywords: Ductility (Earth science); Brittleness

Geopolymers (GPs) have emerged as promising building blocks for Martian construction, yet their inherent brittleness and relatively high density hinder practical application and technological implementation. Implanting biomimetic inspiration from long-term evolution into GPs provides an alternative approach to endow the skeleton with fascinating properties such as lightweight, high strength and high toughness. Here, we first develop a basalt fiber-reinforced Martian regolith simulant-based GP ink for direct ink writing that exhibits excellent rheological properties and rapid solid-to-liquid transition, enabling large-scale production of GP composites with customizable biomimetic patterns and controllable fiber alignment. Among these biomimetic structures, the helical pattern shows the highest compressive strength of ~32.2 MPa, enabling the construction of robust engineering components that can withstand high loads. Meanwhile, the 3D-printed suture pattern shows a relatively low compressive strength of ~9.3 MPa, yet excellent fracture ductility with an ultimate strain of ~14% due to the layer-by-layer stress relaxation mode, promising for deformation-resistant materials.