Performance Analysis of the Additive Polymeric Concrete for Space Habitat Construction

A research on space development such as human exploration and residence construction are increasing worldwide. Construction of habitat on the Moon or Mars is necessary for the advancement of other planets of humanity. Development of automated construction technology applying 3D printing and additive method is mentioned as a core technology for space construction. In addition, technology that utilizes local resources to save enormous transportation costs is needed. The purpose of this paper is to verify the additive construction method applicable to the 3D printing technology for manufacturing the infrastructure on the Moon or Mars. The possibility of additive manufacturing of concrete using the lunar soil simulant and the polyethylene as the binder is verified. Thus, through the verification of the performance of the additive polymeric concrete, deduct the optimum mixing ratio of materials that can achieve the performance required for the space construction. Based on this purpose, the compressive strength, density, deformation rate and extruding efficiency of the additive polymeric concrete according to each material mixture were measured and analyzed. Through the tests, the performance of the equipment and possibility of additive manufacturing using lunar soil simulant and polyethylene had been verified. In addition, the optimum binder ratio was derived. This paper suggests the possibility of space construction by studying additive construction method using local resources and polymer as binder.Maste