Browsing by Author "Zhang, Meng"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Drop the Base: Biological, ISRU-Based Aleatory Construction System for Martian Habitats(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Brandić Lipińska, Monika; Dade-Robertson, Martyn; Zhang, Meng; Rothschild, Lynn J.The prospect of establishing human habitats on Mars presents numerous challenges due to its distance from Earth and the Sun. These include limited access to building materials and machinery, communication lags, and difficulty in obtaining energy. Moreover, Mars' unique environmental conditions, such as different gravity levels, lack of a breathable atmosphere, and the need for protection from radiation, pose additional obstacles. Therefore, developing habitats on Mars requires a reinvented construction process that can address these extreme conditions. One of the alternative approaches for extraterrestrial construction is the use of biological materials. These materials could be brought from Earth and grown in situ for the construction of surface habitats and other structures. We propose the biofabrication strategy for stabilizing regolith using mycelium. This approach focuses specifically on building in resource-limited conditions. It takes into account the use of biomass, water, and oxygen when creating structural components, and the assembly process when it comes to energy consumption and the need for robotic operations. The work explores the creation of in situ-grown mycelium-based regolith composites. Due to lower gravity eliminating the risk of crushing, the resulting components could be literally dropped and aleatorily assembled based on their geometry. A structural system consisting of stacked components containing living matter could meld together through a biological process known as bio-welding, resulting in a solid structure that would serve as a protective habitat shell. The paper discusses the challenges of biological manufacturing for building on Mars, including the complexity of biological material synthesis. It also presents the developments towards a biological aleatory construction system that would work in reduced gravity conditions, allowing the construction of extraterrestrial habitats with minimal energy and additional resources.Item Rotary Ultrasonic Surface Machining of CFRP Composites: A Comparison with Conventional Surface Grinding(2017) Ning, Fuda (TTU); Wang, Hui (TTU); Hu, Yingbin (TTU); Cong, Weilong (TTU); Zhang, Meng; Li, Yuzhou (TTU)Rotary ultrasonic machining (RUM), a hybrid nontraditional process technology combining ultrasonic machining and grinding, has been proven to be a promising method for hole making of CFRP. Due to its advanced capabilities, RUM has been further extendedly applied in surface machining: rotary ultrasonic surface machining (RUSM). Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites have found extensive applications in areas such as aerospace, automotive, and sports due to their superior material properties. CFRP components are usually near net shaped after molding processes, however, additional surface machining is still required to generate the final dimensions and functional surfaces of the advanced CFRP components especially with three-dimensional features. However, the investigations on RUSM of CFRP are very limited and there are no reported studies on comparisons between RUSM and conventional surface grinding (CSG) of CFRP. In this paper, for the first time, a comparative study between these two processes of CFRP in the aspects of axial and infeed-directional cutting forces, torque, and surface roughness is conducted. In order to better understand the material removal differences between these two processes, the kinematic motions of the abrasive grains are also analyzed and compared.