Constructing Spacecraft Components Using Additive Manufacturing and Atomic Layer Deposition: First Steps for Integrated Electric Circuitry
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 34, Issue 5
Abstract
Many fields, including the aerospace industry, have shown increased interest in the use of plastics to lower the mass of systems. However, the use of plastics in space can be challenging for a number of reasons. Ultraviolet radiation, atomic oxygen, and other phenomena specifically associated with space cause the degradation of polymers. Here we show a path toward creation of space-grade components by combining additive manufacturing (AM) and atomic layer deposition (ALD). Our method produced ALD coated thermoplastic parts suitable for space applications. The highlight of this work is a significant reduction in outgassing, demonstrated using residual gas analyzer (RGA) sampling. Compared to uncoated parts, the ALD coating decreased the outgassing of polyether ether ketone (PEEK), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC), and nanodiamond-doped polylactide (ND-PLA) by 46%, 49%, 58%, and 65%, respectively. The manufacturing method used in this work enables the use of topology optimization already in the early concept creation phase. The method is ideally suited for spacecraft applications, in which the volume and mass of parts is critical, and could also be adapted for in-space manufacturing.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author upon request. This includes RGA measurements, laboratory notes, and pictures.
Acknowledgments
We thank the European Space Agency (ESA), who has supported parts of this research as part of the HighPEEK project (ESA Contract No. 4000127834/19/UK/AB). In particular, Ugo Lafont and Paul Greenway (ESA) have our gratitude. We also deeply appreciate the help given by Daniel Leese (exchange student at Aalto University), Kirsi Kukko, Ashish Mohite and Olli Knuuttila (Aalto University), Lorenz Schmuckli and Pekka Rummukainen (Aalto University, retired), and Katja Väyrynen and Marko Vehkamäki (University of Helsinki).
References
Abdulagatov, A., Y. Yan, J. Cooper, Y. Zhang, Z. Gibbs, A. Cavanagh, R. Yang, Y. Lee, and S. George. 2011. “ and atomic layer deposition on copper for water corrosion resistance.” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 3 (12): 4593–4601. https://doi.org/10.1021/am2009579.
ASTM. 2015. Standard test method for total mass loss and collected volatile condensable materials from outgassing in a vacuum environment. ASTM E595. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2016. Standard test method for contamination outgassing characteristics of spacecraft materials. ASTM E1559-09. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
Broas, M. 2018. “Quality, microstructural refinement and stability of atomic-layer-deposited aluminum nitride and aluminum oxide films.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto Univ.
Buevich, Y., and V. Kalinnikov. 1979. “Impregnation of a heated filler with a viscous liquid.” J. Eng. Phys. Thermophys. 36 (6): 652–656. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01086656.
Bull, S. 1997. “Failure mode maps in the thin film scratch adhesion test.” Tribol. Int. 30 (7): 491–498. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-679X(97)00012-1.
Chen, Y., N. Ginga, W. LePage, E. Kazyak, A. Gayle, J. Wang, R. Rodríguez, M. Thouless, and N. Dasgupta. 2019. “Enhanced interfacial toughness of thermoplastic–epoxy interfaces using ALD surface treatments.” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11 (46): 43573–43580. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b15193.
Cooper, R., H. Upadhyaya, T. Minton, M. Berman, X. Du, and S. George. 2008. “Protection of polymer from atomic-oxygen erosion using Al2O3 atomic layer deposition coatings.” Thin Solid Films 516 (12): 4036–4039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2007.07.150.
Cruise, A., J. Bowles, T. Patrick, and C. Goodall. 2006. Principles of space instrument design. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
ECSS (European Coordination for Space Standardization). 2020. “European coordination for space standardization.” Accessed April 25, 2021. https://www.ecss.nl.
Fortescue, J., G. Swinerd, and J. Stark. 2011. Spacecraft systems engineering. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Gilmore, D. 2003. Spacecraft thermal control handbook. El Segundo, CA: Aerospace Press.
Grau, S. 2019. Vol. 3 of Contributions to the advance of the integration density of CubeSats. Berlin: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin.
Groner, M., F. Fabreguette, J. Elam, and S. George. 2004. “Low-temperature Al2O3 atomic layer deposition.” Chem. Mater. 16 (4): 639–645. https://doi.org/10.1021/cm0304546.
Grossman, E., and I. Gouzman. 2003. “Space environment effects on polymers in low earth orbit.” Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. B 208 (Aug): 48–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-583X(03)00640-2.
Heidary, D., and C. Randall. 2015. “Evaluating the merit of ALD coating as a barrier against hydrogen degradation in capacitor components.” RSC Adv. 5 (63): 50869–50877. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA07264F.
Hu, R., W. Chen, Q. Li, S. Liu, P. Zhou, Z. Dong, and R. Kang. 2016. “Design optimization method for additive manufacturing of the primary mirror of a large-aperture space telescope.” J. Aerosp. Eng. 30 (3): 04016093. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000690.
Jen, S., J. Bertrand, and S. George. 2011. “Critical tensile and compressive strains for cracking of Al2O3 films grown by atomic layer deposition.” J. Appl. Phys. 109 (8): 084305. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3567912.
Johnson, P., P. Copeland, A. Ayodele, E. Tarekegn, S. Bromley, W. Harrell, C. Sosolik, and J. Marler. 2020. “In-vacuum performance of a 3D-printed ion deflector.” Vacuum 172 (Feb): 109061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2019.109061.
Johnson, R., A. Hultqvist, and S. Bent. 2014. “A brief review of atomic layer deposition: From fundamentals to applications.” Mater. Today 17 (5): 236–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mattod.2014.04.026.
Kestilä, A., K. Nordling, V. Miikkulainen, M. Kaipio, T. Tikka, M. Salmi, A. Auer, M. Leskelä, and M. Ritala. 2018. “Towards space-grade 3D-printed, ALD-coated small satellite propulsion components for fluidics.” Addit. Manuf. 22 (Aug): 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2018.04.023.
Kirn, T. 2013. “The AMS-02 TRD on the international space station.” Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 706 (Apr): 43–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2012.05.010.
Krzysztof, M., H. Kubera, W. Głuszewski, and Z. Zimek. 2011. “Effect of ionizing radiation on the properties of PLA packaging materials.” Nukleonika 56 (1): 65–69.
Kutilainen, T., M. Pudas, M. Ashworth, T. Lehto, L. Wu, G. Wilcox, J. Wang, P. Collander, and J. Hokka. 2019. “Atomic layer deposition (ALD) to mitigate tin whisker growth and corrosion issues on printed circuit board assemblies.” J. Electron. Mater. 48 (11): 7573–7584. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07534-7.
Kutz, M. 2002. Handbook of materials selection. New York: Wiley.
Lanouette, A., M. Potvin, F. Martin, D. Houle, and D. Therriault. 2015. “Residual mechanical properties of a carbon fibers/PEEK space robotic arm after simulated orbital debris impact.” Int. J. Impact Eng. 84 (Oct): 78–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2015.05.010.
Mark, J. 2009. Polymer data handbook. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
McGuigan, A., G. Briggs, V. Burlakov, M. Yanaka, and Y. Tsukahara. 2003. “An elastic-plastic shear lag model for fracture of layered coatings.” Thin Solid Films 424 (2): 219–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(02)01124-0.
Minton, T., B. Wu, J. Zhang, N. Lindholm, A. Abdulagatov, J. O’Patchen, S. George, and M. Groner. 2010. “Protecting polymers in space with atomic layer deposition coatings.” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2 (9): 2515–2520. https://doi.org/10.1021/am100217m.
Muraca, R., and J. Whittick. 1967. Polymers for spacecraft applications. Menlo Park, CA: Stanford Research Institute.
Murari, A., C. Vinante, and M. Monari. 2002. “Comparison of PEEK and VESPEL SP1 characteristics as vacuum seals for fusion applications.” Vacuum 65 (2): 137–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0042-207X(01)00420-1.
Nogales, C., B. Grim, M. Kamstra, B. Campbell, A. Ewing, R. Hance, J. Griffin, and S. Parke. 2018. “MakerSat-0: 3D-printed polymer degradation first data from orbit.” In Proc., 32nd Annual AIAA/USU Conf. on Small Satellites. Reston, VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Prater, T., J. Edmunson, F. Ledbetter, M. Fiske, C. Hill, M. Meyyappan, C. Roberts, L. Huebner, P. Hall, and N. Werkheiser. 2019. “NASA’s in-space manufacturing project: Update on manufacturing technologies and materials to enable more sustainable and safer exploration.” In Proc., 70th Int. Astronautical Congress (IAC). Washington, DC: International Astronautical Congress.
Rückerl, A., R. Zeisel, M. Mandl, I. Costina, T. Schroeder, and M. Zoellner. 2017. “Characterization and prevention of humidity related degradation of atomic layer deposited Al2O3.” J. Appl. Phys. 121 (2): 025306. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973583.
Shulman, H., and W. Ginell. 1970. Nuclear and space radiation effects on materials. Springfield, VA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Stein, B. 1992. An interim overview of LDEF materials findings. Springfield, VA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Stein, B. 1993. LDEF materials overview. Springfield, VA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Tynell, T., and M. Karppinen. 2014. “Atomic layer deposition of ZnO: A review.” Semicond. Sci. Technol. 29 (4): 043001. https://doi.org/10.1088/0268-1242/29/4/043001.
Varadan, V., J. Xiaoning, and V. Varadan. 2001. Microstereolithography and other fabrication techniques for 3D MEMS. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
VTT. 2018. “VTT and Carbodeon speed up 3D printing with nanodiamonds.” Accessed July 12, 2020. https://www.vttresearch.com/en/news-and-ideas/vtt-and-carbodeon-speed-3d-printing-nanodiamonds.
Zanjanijam, A., I. Major, J. Lyons, U. Lafont, and D. Devine. 2020. “Fused filament fabrication of PEEK: A review of process-structure-property relationships.” Polymers (Basel) 12 (8): 1665. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12081665.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 5 • September 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 6, 2020
Accepted: Mar 9, 2021
Published online: May 20, 2021
Published in print: Sep 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Oct 20, 2021
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
- Zihao Meng, Yiru Ren, Chao Ding, Dong Mi, Zhengming Qian, Lizhang Zhang, Topology Optimization of 3D Turbine Disk Considering Thermal Load Based on BESO Method, Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 10.1061/JAEEEZ.ASENG-5304, 37, 5, (2024).
- Nupur Bihari, Ismo T.S. Rauha, Giovanni Marin, Craig Ekstrum, Chathura de Alwis, Pierce J. Mayville, Hele Savin, Maarit Karppinen, Joshua M. Pearce, Understanding the multilevel phenomena that enables inorganic atomic layer deposition to provide barrier coatings for highly-porous 3-D printed plastic in vacuums, Surface and Coatings Technology, 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2023.129475, 462, (129475), (2023).
- David Muñoz-Rojas, Matthieu Weber, Christophe Vallée, Chiara Crivello, Abderrahime Sekkat, Fidel Toldra-Reig, Mikhael Bechelany, Nanometric 3D Printing of Functional Materials by Atomic Layer Deposition, Advanced Additive Manufacturing, 10.5772/intechopen.101859, (2022).
- Mika Salmi, Comparing additive manufacturing processes for distributed manufacturing, IFAC-PapersOnLine, 10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.09.603, 55, 10, (1503-1508), (2022).
- Rupak Dua, Zuri Rashad, Joy Spears, Grace Dunn, Micaela Maxwell, Applications of 3D-Printed PEEK via Fused Filament Fabrication: A Systematic Review, Polymers, 10.3390/polym13224046, 13, 22, (4046), (2021).