Mars-like soil makes super strong bricks when compressed

[Free Vulcan]

Elon Musk's vision of Mars colonization has us living under geodesic domes made of carbon fiber and glass. But, according to a study recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, those domes may end up being made of brick, pressed from the Martian soil itself.

A team of NASA-funded researchers from UC San Diego, and led by structural engineer Yu Qiao, made the surprising discovery using simulated Martian soil -- that's dirt from Earth which has nearly the same physical and chemical properties. They found that by compressing the simulant under high pressure, it readily created blocks stronger than steel-reinforced concrete.

This isn't the first time that researchers have attempted to create building materials from native resources on alien worlds. Last year, a team from Northwestern University figured out that you could create concrete by mixing Martian soil with molten sulphur. Qi's own team had previously sought to make bricks from lunar soil material, managing to reduce the amount of binder needed from 15 percent of the final weight to just 3 percent, before turning their attention to the red stuff...

Read more at: https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/27/mars-like-soil-makes-super-strong-bricks-when-compressed/

[Doug Loss]

According to the article, they've so far only made very small bricks from their Martian regolith simulant.  The question will be how well the properties hold up when they get to useful sizes.  Also, is this strength only in compression, or also in tension and torsion?  The answers will be important in determining how the technique can be used.  Finally, the article says, "future manned missions to Mars could use soil as the source material for additive manufacturing efforts."  Additive manufacturing generally means what we often call 3D printing.  If the technique requires "compressing the simulant under high pressure," that might make additive manufacturing sort of complicated.  Additionally, I didn't see any indication that this technique could actually be used additively.  They only talked about creating bricks, not about adding to existing bricks through repeated applications of the technique.  Early days, of course.  I hope it works, but it's far from proven.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Spacemen in mud huts, interesting. If they can make it work it would cut down on the weight of what we have to take with us.

[Cripplecreek]

According to the article, they've so far only made very small bricks from their Martian regolith simulant.  The question will be how well the properties hold up when they get to useful sizes.  Also, is this strength only in compression, or also in tension and torsion?  The answers will be important in determining how the technique can be used.  Finally, the article says, "future manned missions to Mars could use soil as the source material for additive manufacturing efforts."  Additive manufacturing generally means what we often call 3D printing.  If the technique requires "compressing the simulant under high pressure," that might make additive manufacturing sort of complicated.  Additionally, I didn't see any indication that this technique could actually be used additively.  They only talked about creating bricks, not about adding to existing bricks through repeated applications of the technique.  Early days, of course.  I hope it works, but it's far from proven.

One interesting idea I've seen is to use the martian soil for "printed" structures. Rather than using the scarce water to make martian concrete they would use the abundant sulphur which has a low melting temp. Sulphur would be mixed with the martian soil dry then heated by the "printer".

[truth_seeker]

The first Soviet craft to reach Moon was in 1959 and the first US craft with humans reached Moon in 1969.

Both were government projects, and look how long it has taken them to study and research their findings.

"Hey boss. I simulated that Moon Dust stuff they brought back, and if you add some water and some glue, you can make mud bricks with it."

Journalism and government work being what they have devolved to be, I thought part way through the article, they were going to haul bricks from Moon to Earth, so as to not harm the environment here.

[driftdiver]

Spacemen in mud huts, interesting. If they can make it work it would cut down on the weight of what we have to take with us.

Are the astronauts going to grow their own straw or will that be provided for them?

[Suppressed]

With the atmosphere so thin, there won't be high-intensity storms like the one shown in Martian.

[Cripplecreek]

With the atmosphere so thin, there won't be high-intensity storms like the one shown in Martian.

Interestingly enough that movie then went the other way and launched the martian to orbit under a tarp. 

a 100 mph wind on mars carries the force of a 10 mph breeze.

[driftdiver]

Interestingly enough that movie then went the other way and launched the martian to orbit under a tarp. 

a 100 mph wind on mars carries the force of a 10 mph breeze.

That would have been a boring movie, well ok it was anyway but thats pretty much expected of a Matt Damon movie.

[kevindavis007]

Space Ping! PM me if you want on or off the list..


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[sneakypete]

That would have been a boring movie, well ok it was anyway but thats pretty much expected of a Matt Damon movie.

@driftdiver

And here I was thinking it was just me........

Thanks!

[Sanguine]

This would take a lot of energy.

[Just_Victor]

Spacemen in mud huts, interesting. If they can make it work it would cut down on the weight of what we have to take with us.

Can't say I've ever seen an airtight brick structure.  I guess you could stack bricks around your flown-in modules, but that seems to me to have marginal utility.

[Cripplecreek]

Can't say I've ever seen an airtight brick structure.  I guess you could stack bricks around your flown-in modules, but that seems to me to have marginal utility.

I was thinking about a spray on sealant. There are plenty on the market now that would work pretty well without spending a billion dollars in R&D.

If it will work on a screen door in a boat, it should work quite well sealing brick.

[Just_Victor]

I was thinking about a spray on sealant. There are plenty on the market now that would work pretty well without spending a billion dollars in R&D.

If it will work on a screen door in a boat, it should work quite well sealing brick.

You'd prolly do better to build the brick structure to a predefined shape, and inflate a matched shape balloon inside it.

[Cripplecreek]

You'd prolly do better to build the brick structure to a predefined shape, and inflate a matched shape balloon inside it.

Something like the Bigelow space modules would be good. Being inside of a concrete structure they wouldn't need to be as robust.

[Elderberry]

Direct Formation of Structural Components Using a Martian Soil Simulant
Brian J. Chow1, Tzehan Chen2, Ying Zhong2 & Yu Qiao

Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 1151 (2017)

Abstract

Martian habitats are ideally constructed using only locally available soils; extant attempts to process structural materials on Mars, however, generally require additives or calcination. In this work we demonstrate that Martian soil simulant Mars-1a can be directly compressed at ambient into a strong solid without additives, highlighting a possible aspect of complete Martian in-situ resource utilization. Flexural strength of the compact is not only determined by the compaction pressure but also significantly influenced by the lateral boundary condition of processing loading. The compression loading can be applied either quasi-statically or through impact. Nanoparticulate iron oxide (npOx), commonly detected in Martian regolith, is identified as the bonding agent. Gas permeability of compacted samples was measured to be on the order of 10−16 m2, close to that of solid rocks. The compaction procedure is adaptive to additive manufacturing.

Introduction   

More: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-01157-w

[geronl]

Importing bricks from Mars probably won't be competitive to cheap Mexican bricks or the good ACME stuff

[Sanguine]

Importing bricks from Mars probably won't be competitive to cheap Mexican bricks or the good ACME stuff

No, but it will be really, really cool.

[Free Vulcan]

My hope it that it will stimulate new ideas into building better concrete.

[Oceander]

Importing bricks from Mars probably won't be competitive to cheap Mexican bricks or the good ACME stuff

Yes, but the premium some people would be willing to pay to be the only person in town with a house built of brick from Mars is likely to be very high. 

[geronl]

Yes, but the premium some people would be willing to pay to be the only person in town with a house built of brick from Mars is likely to be very high.

or maybe just the mailbox. lol

[Cripplecreek]

or maybe just the mailbox. lol

Might as well go cheap and build it out of gold bricks.

[Doug Loss]

Might as well go cheap and build it out of gold bricks.

Hey, I was a dedicated goldbrick when I was in the army (decades ago)...I wasn't cheap, I really had to work to shirk like that!

[roamer_1]

Spacemen in mud huts, interesting. If they can make it work it would cut down on the weight of what we have to take with us.

Yeah, but the spaceship is gonna look mighty goofy with a couple trailers full of straw tagging along behind...

Have you ever made mud daub without hair or straw?