NASA has stepped into the world of textiles. A team of engineers, led by Raul Polit Casillas, has developed prototypes of pieces of metal 'space fabric' created with 3D printing where the functionalities have already been co-printed.
Raul Polit Casillas grew up among fabrics. His mother is a fashion designer in Spain and from an early age he was intrigued by how materials are used in certain designs.
Now, as a systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, he is still concerned with textiles. He and his colleagues design advanced woven metallic fabrics for space applications.
Usable
These fabrics could potentially be very useful for large antennas and other devices because the material is foldable and the shape can be quickly adjusted. The fabrics could also eventually be used to protect a spacecraft from meteorites, for astronaut uniforms or for collecting objects from the surface of other planets. The material could additionally insulate spacecraft when entering icy moons and planets. It can also serve as a foot pad for astronauts landing in these cold places without melting the ice under their feet.
At first glance, the prototypes created by Polit Casillas and his colleagues look like a combination between a link chain and small metal tiles. The fabrics are 3D printed in their entirety.
"We call it 4D printing because we can print both the desired geometry and features in the material," Polit Casillas said. "If 20th-century manufacturing was driven by mass production, this is the mass production of functions."
Features
The 'space fabrics' have four essential functions: reflection, passive heat control, foldability and tensile strength. One side of the fabric reflects light and heat, while the other side absorbs light, acting as a thermal controller. It can fold in different ways and adapt to shapes while being able to carry the pulling power.
Polit Casillas' ultimate goal is to get the technology so that astronauts can also print in space and reuse old materials.
However, it is also important to think about new forms. If you print a single sheet of aluminium, the function is limited. But if you print the same plate by using heat radiation, it is suddenly much more useful. "I can programme new functionalities into the material I print," Polit Casillas explains. "That also reduces the time you normally spend integrating and testing. You can print, test and destroy as much material as you want."
This method of design could quite revolutionise spacecraft production. Instead of having to assemble something with dozens of different parts, it can now be done all at once, with added functionalities.
By: Kelly Bakker
Source photos: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
