tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618880.post7647015932775079113..comments2024-03-27T00:26:31.343-07:00Comments on The Commercial Space Blog: 3D Metal Manufacturing Waiting for Patents to ExpireChuck Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506476753520146858noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618880.post-15507638033447580362013-11-30T15:16:56.709-08:002013-11-30T15:16:56.709-08:00Hello, I'm quite interested in Laser Chemical ...Hello, I'm quite interested in Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD) 3D printer of metal carbonyls. I was just googling on this topic, and only meaningful page what I found was your post. Can you please give me some references (web page, paper DOI or something) on this topic?<br />Thank you Prokop Hapalahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07461079702720282621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618880.post-81208417552280570512013-10-24T21:18:17.482-07:002013-10-24T21:18:17.482-07:00Fascinating and thoughtful points, Tom! Its clear ...Fascinating and thoughtful points, Tom! Its clear much work needs to be done to get this to work in space, but the future is going to be VERY interesting.<br /><br />Thanks for the feedback!<br /><br />BrianBrian Orlottihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13866070017538841146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618880.post-58936660313937311032013-10-23T20:07:06.477-07:002013-10-23T20:07:06.477-07:00One very interesting thing for 3-d printing with m...One very interesting thing for 3-d printing with metals in Space will be which methods are used to get the metal to where you want it, and keep it there till the electron beam or laser beam arrives for fusing it to the rest of the object. At the bottom of our gravity well, we can use gravity to do this, spreading thin layers of dust that gravity holds in place, while a beam fuzes that layer in the desired pattern to the preceding portions of the printed object.<br /><br />In a free fall environment, that will not work. However, there *are* other forces besides gravity to pick, put and pin down metallic bits. The method used by MadeInSpace so far might be used, which is using stock in the form of thin threads that are positioned along the lines of the workpiece and melted to the rest of the object. This will work in some situations, but in others it may be cumbersome. One force for moving dust particles similar to the metallic dust used on Earth could be static electricity. In the vacuum of Space, in free fall, this could be the predominant force acting on small particles. moving charge to move mass may be worthwhile, if we can get the speed of deposition up to the rates of the thread systems.<br /><br />In vacuum another system less used today could be interesting, that being Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD). In conjunction with technologies like the Mond Process, this tech could use metal carbonyls from native metal bits found in carbonaceous chondrite asteroids as the intermediate feedstock, and direct a laser beam in the desired pattern at a frequency not absorbed by the carbonyl, but nicely absorbed by the metal itself. Most carbonlys disassociate when heated strongly, depositing their metal on the surface they are in contact with. A converging group of laser beams could provide heat at the point of desired deposition at any one time, while shining through the carbonyl gasses themselves, perhaps even at high enough pressures that the deposition rates can rival those of thread or dust systems. The poisonous nature of many carbonyls may limit experimentation here, till more manufacturing space outside human space habitats can be brought into being.Tom Billingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09417750073130778880noreply@blogger.com