Kejia vacuum furnace helps Huazhong University of Science and Technology sinter lunar soil bricks, e
"Lunar soil bricks" are building materials that may be used to build houses on the moon in the future. They are much harder than ordinary concrete bricks. In a while, this "lunar soil brick" will be taken on the "Tianzhou 8" cargo spacecraft to the Chinese space station to conduct exposure experiments in space. What is the difference between "lunar soil bricks" and ordinary bricks? Why do they go to space?"Lunar soil bricks": an extraordinary "brick"Are the "lunar soil bricks" that can be used to build houses on the moon the same as the bricks on our earth? In order to find the secrets of "lunar soil bricks", the reporter came to its research site - the National Digital Construction Technology Innovation Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Zhou Cheng, professor of the National Digital Construction Technology Innovation Center and Huazhong University of Science and Technology: The two bricks I have in my hand are called simulated "lunar soil bricks". Its composition is the simulated "lunar soil bricks" formed by sintering by imitating the composition of real lunar soil.
The bricks used for construction in daily life are generally red bricks, blue bricks and concrete bricks. The density of these "moon soil bricks" is equivalent to that of ordinary bricks, but its compressive strength is more than three times that of ordinary red bricks and concrete bricks, which is equivalent to a weight of more than 1 ton on an area of 1 square centimeter.
Zhou Cheng, professor of the National Digital Construction Technology Innovation Center and Huazhong University of Science and Technology: The strength of the simulated "moon soil bricks" is much higher than that of the red bricks and blue bricks used on Earth. The two bricks we see are mortise and tenon structures, which is conducive to the use of such a structure for assembly and construction in the construction of future lunar bases.Space Journey Verifies the Three Key Performances of "Moon Soil Bricks"Why do "moon soil bricks" need to take the "Tianzhou 8" to the Chinese space station? What kind of tests do "moon soil bricks" need to withstand before they can shoulder the responsibility of building houses on the moon? Experts told reporters that there are three key performances of "moon soil bricks" to be verified in their space journey.
To build a house on the moon, the first challenge is the drastic temperature change. The temperature during the day is over 180℃, and it drops to -190℃ at night. In addition, because there is no atmospheric protection, a large amount of cosmic radiation and many micrometeorites will hit the surface of the moon, and there are also moonquakes with high vibration frequencies, which will put forward stringent requirements on the mechanical properties, thermal properties and radiation resistance of lunar building materials.
In order to find out whether the "lunar soil brick" can be competent for the task of building a house on the moon, the "lunar soil brick" will take the "Tianzhou 8" cargo spacecraft to the Chinese space station recently. After completing the space experiment, the first "lunar soil brick" is expected to return to Earth at the end of 2025.
The mechanical properties of the "lunar soil brick". Because this is most related to our house construction, that is, whether the mechanical properties of the sample will degrade.
The change of the thermal properties of the "lunar soil brick". We hope to know how its thermal insulation and heat insulation performance is.
The impact of radiation on "lunar soil bricks". Because the moon is a vacuum environment, there is a lot of cosmic radiation. We also hope to understand whether "lunar soil bricks" can withstand the effects of cosmic radiation on the moon.The laboratory reveals how "lunar soil bricks" are made?The complex environment on the lunar surface places extremely high demands on the performance of "lunar soil bricks". How are "lunar soil bricks" made?
Zhou Cheng, professor at the National Digital Construction Technology Innovation Center and Huazhong University of Science and Technology: The "lunar soil bricks" formed by vacuum hot pressing sintering are roughly divided into three steps. In the first step, we need to weigh the simulated lunar soil and put it into the mold according to the weight after weighing. However, the lunar soil is very loose, so we need to press it in the container of the mold.
Zhou Cheng, professor of the National Digital Construction Technology Innovation Center and Huazhong University of Science and Technology: There is no other material additive in this process, so it is a 100% in-situ molding process method, which is also a very promising construction method in the future construction of lunar bases.Space experiments help "lunar soil brick" research overcome difficulties.When introducing the production process of "lunar soil bricks", researchers mentioned a word-in-situ molding process method, that is, in the future, when we build a lunar research station, we can use local materials on the moon, directly use lunar soil, solar energy, minerals and other lunar surface in-situ resources to build houses, and no longer need to transport prefabricated building components from the earth. This method can greatly reduce the cost of lunar construction. After the space exposure experiment, these simulated "moon soil bricks" will accumulate scientific research data for building houses on the moon in the future, so as to optimize the actual plan.
Columnar "moon soil bricks" are mainly used for mechanical testing;
Sheet "moon soil bricks" with a larger exposure area are used for thermal and radiation effect testing.
In addition to different forms, these "moon soil bricks" also use 5 different simulated lunar soil components and 3 different sintering processes, which can provide more accurate scientific research data for the subsequent construction of the lunar base.
Zhou Cheng, professor at the National Digital Construction Technology Innovation Center and Huazhong University of Science and Technology: Just like on Earth, the soil in the northeast is black soil, and the soil in the northwest is loess. On the moon, the particle composition of the soil is different in different locations and regions. We mainly understand its degradation law under different molding processes and in the environment of the space station. Because of the degradation law, we can provide a good scientific basis for material selection and process optimization.
(Source: CCTV News)
Chinese people will use mortise and tenon technology to build houses on the moon - from China CCTV13 CCTV News Report.
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