¹Levent Karacasulu,²David Karl,²Aleksander Gurlo,¹Cekdar Vakifahmetoglu
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115270]
¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Izmir Institute of Technology, Urla, 35430 Izmir, Turkey
²Technische Universitaet Berlin, Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Chair of Advanced Ceramic Materials, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Copyright Elsevier

Mars regolith simulant (MGS-1) was densified for the first time via a cold sintering process (CSP) as a novel in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) concept. The technique comprises the utilization of NaOH solution as a liquid media during the densification of simulant powder with <100 μm particle size. In as short as 30 min, with the increase in the NaOH concentration (from 3 M to 10 M) and processing temperature (from 150 °C to 250 °C), the relative densities of the regolith compacts and the mechanical properties were enhanced. The artifacts produced with Mars regolith simulant powder at 250 °C using 10 M NaOH solution yielded a relative density of around 88% and compressive strength reaching ~45 MPa.