In order to make space more accessible and cost effective, rapid reusability is required for launch vehicles and spacecraft. Lunar Dust has proven to be an unpredictable and problematic factor in past lunar exploration missions by damaging equipment and spacesuits. Vital components found in rocket engines are also damaged during decent and operation on the lunar surface. This project is a collection research and designs of a novel system that protects the main components of rocket engines in order to allow engines to be reusable and allow for space travel more sustainable. This system will also add to mission safety and will be critical for humanity's future presence on the Moon.

A key aspect of understanding the behavior of materials and structures is the analysis of how they fail. A key aspect of failure analysis is the discipline of fractography, which identifies features of interest on fracture surfaces with the goal of revealing insights on the nature of defects and microstructure, and their interactions with the environment such as loading conditions. While fractography itself is a decades-old science, two aspects drive the need for this research: (i) Fractography remains a specialized domain of materials science where human subjectivity and experience play a large role in accurate determination of fracture modes and their relationship to the loading environment. (ii) Secondly, Additive Manufacturing (AM) is increasingly being used to create critical functional parts, where our understanding of failure mechanisms and how they relate to process and post-process conditions is nascent. Given these two challenges, this thesis conducted work to train convolutional neural network (CNN) models to analyze fracture surfaces in place of human experts and applies this to Inconel 718 specimens fabricated with the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) process, as well as to traditional sheet metal specimens of the same alloy. This work intends to expand on previous work utilizing clustering methods through comparison of models developed using both manufacturing processes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the CNN approach, as well as elucidate insights into the nature of fracture modes in additively and traditionally manufactured thin-wall Inconel 718 specimens.

The hexagonal honeycomb is a bio-inspired cellular structure with a high stiffness-to-weight ratio. It has contributed to its use in several engineering applications compared to solid bodies with identical volume and material properties. This characteristic behavior is mainly attributed to the effective nature of stress distribution through the honeycomb beams that manifests as bending, axial, and shear deformation mechanisms. Inspired by the presence of this feature in natural honeycomb, this work focuses on the influence of the corner radius on the mechanical properties of a honeycomb structure subjected to in-plane compression loading. First, the local response at the corner node interface is investigated with the help of finite element simulation of a periodic unit cell within the linear elastic domain and validated against the best available analytical models. Next, a parametric design of experiments (DOE) study with the unit cell is defined with design points of varying circularity and cell length ratios towards identifying the optimal combination of all geometric parameters that maximize stiffness per unit mass while minimizing the stresses induced at the corner nodes. The observed trends are then compared with compression tests of 3D printed Nylon 12 honeycomb specimens of varying corner radii and wall thicknesses. The study concluded that the presence of a corner radius has a mitigating effect on peak stresses but that these effects are dependent on thickness while also increasing specific stiffness in all cases. It also points towards an optimum combination of parameters that achieve both objectives simultaneously while shedding some light on the functional benefit of this radius in wasp and bee nests that employ a hexagonal cell.

Thermal management is a critical aspect of microelectronics packaging and often centers around preventing central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) from overheating. As the need for power going into these processors increases, so too does the need for more effective thermal management strategies. One such strategy is to utilize additive manufacturing to fabricate heat sinks with bio-inspired and cellular structures and is the focus of this thesis. In this study, a process was developed for manufacturing the copper alloy CuNi2SiCr on the 100w Concept Laser Mlab laser powder bed fusion 3D printer to obtain parts that were 94% dense, while dealing with challenges of low absorptivity in copper and its high potential for oxidation. The developed process was then used to manufacture and test heat sinks with traditional pin and fin designs to establish a baseline cooling effect, as determined from tests conducted on a substrate, CPU and heat spreader assembly. Two additional heat sinks were designed, the first of these being bio-inspired and the second incorporating Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) cellular structures, with the aim of trying to improve the cooling effect relative to commercial heat sinks. The results showed that the pure copper commercial pin-design heat sink outperformed the additive manufactured (AM) pin-design heat sink under both natural and forced convection conditions due to its approximately tenfold higher thermal conductivity, but that the gap in performance could be bridged using the bio-inspired and Schwarz-P heat sink designs developed in this work and is an encouraging indicator that further improvements could be obtained with improved alloys, heat treatments and even more innovative designs.

Inspired by the design of lightweight cellular structures in nature, humans have made cellular solids for a wide range of engineering applications. Cellular structures composed of solid and gaseous phases, and an interconnected network of solid struts or plates that form the cell's edges and faces. This makes them an ideal candidate for numerous energy absorption applications in the military, transportation, and automotive industries. The objective of the thesis is to study the energy-absorption of multi-material cellular structures. Cellular structures made from Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) a thermoplastic polymer and Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) a thermoplastic elastomer were manufactured using dual extrusion 3D printing. The surface-based structures were designed with partitions to allocate different materials using Matlab and nTopology. Aperiodicity was introduced to the design through perturbation. The specimens were designed for two wall thicknesses - 0.5mm and 1mm, respectively. In total, 18 specimens were designed and 3D printed. All the specimens were tested under quasi-static compression. A detailed analysis was performed to study the energy absorption metrics and draw conclusions, with emphasis on specific energy absorbed as a function of relative density, efficiency, and peak stress of the specimens to hypothesize and validate mechanisms for observed behavior. All the specimens were analyzed to draw comparisons across designs.

Additively Manufactured Thin-wall Inconel 718 specimens commonly find application in heat exchangers and Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) for space vehicles. The wall thicknesses in applications for these components typically range between 0.03-2.5mm. Laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) Fatigue standards assume thickness over 5mm and consider Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) as conventional heat treatment. This study aims at investigating the dependence of High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) behavior on wall thickness and Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) for as-built Additively Manufactured Thin Wall Inconel 718 alloys. To address this aim, high cycle fatigue tests were performed on specimens of seven different thicknesses (0.3mm,0.35mm, 0.5mm, 0.75mm, 1mm, 1.5mm, and 2mm) using a Servohydraulic FatigueTesting Machine. Only half of the specimen underwent HIP, creating data for bothHIP and No-HIP specimens. Upon analyzing the collected data, it was noticed that the specimens that underwent HIP had similar fatigue behavior to that of sheet metal specimens. In addition, it was also noticed that the presence of Porosity in No-HIP specimens makes them more sensitive to changes in stress. A clear decrease in fatigue strength with the decrease in thickness was observed for all specimens.

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is an additive manufacturing (AM) technology that has emerged as the predominant technology for metal 3D printing. An alloy of particular interest to the aerospace industry is the nickel-based superalloy, Inconel 718 (IN718), which is widely used for its superior performance in elevated temperature conditions, particularly for gas-turbine engine blades and heat exchangers. With LPBF providing new ways of exploiting complex part geometry, the high-temperature properties of the AM version of the alloy must be understood. Of additional interest is how these properties change as a function of geometry and post-processing. This research focuses on the behavior of LPBF IN718 as a function of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and specimen thickness at elevated temperatures. These results and behavior were compared to the behavior of IN718 sheet metal for properties such as True Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS), Yield Strength, Young’s Modulus, percent elongation, and necking. The results showed dependence of strength on both thickness and HIP condition, and also exhibited a steep drop in UTS and yield strength at 1600 °F, linearly declining modulus, and excess dynamic strain ageing (DSA) behavior at certain temperatures.

Due to the vast increase in processing power and energy usage in computing, a need for greater heat dissipation is prevalent. With numerous applications demanding cheaper and more efficient options for thermal management, new technology must be employed. Through the use of additive manufacturing, designs and structures can be created that were not physically possible before without extensive costs. The goal is to design a system that utilizes capillary action, which is the ability for liquids to flow through narrow spaces unassisted. The level of detail required may be achieved with direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) and stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing.

While many 3D printed structures are rigid and stationary, the potential for complex geometries offers a chance for creative and useful motion. Printing structures larger than the print bed, reducing the need for support materials, maintaining multiple states without actuation, and mimicking origami folding are some of the opportunities offered by 3D printed hinges. Current efforts frequently employ advanced materials and equipment that are not available to all users. The purpose of this project was to develop a parametric, print-in-place, self-locking hinge that could be printed using very basic materials and equipment. Six main designs were developed, printed, and tested for their strength in maintaining a locked position. Two general design types were used: 1) sliding hinges and 2) removable pin hinges. The test results were analyzed to identify and explain the causes of observed trends. The amount of interference between the pin vertex and knuckle hole edge was identified as the main factor in hinge strength. After initial testing, the designs were modified and applied to several structures, with successful results for a collapsible hexagon and a folding table. While the initial goal was to have one CAD model as a final product, the need to evaluate tradeoffs depending on the exact application made this impossible. Instead, a set of design guidelines was created to help users make strategic decisions and create their own design. Future work could explore additional scaling effects, printing factors, or other design types.