Bioinspired Interlayer Adhesion Strategy for Additive Manufacturing in Space

In-space manufacturing draws great attentions due to its potential applications in space exploration. However, the high-vacuum and microgravity environment introduces extrascientific and technical challenges. Biological experiments in the International Space Station show that spiders can build webs under microgravity conditions, which indicates that the spiderweb building could be independent of gravity. Herein, inspired by the spiderweb, a strategy for additive manufacturing in space, that is, building a 3D structure composed of metallic ribbons and bonded joints, is proposed. Several kinds of 3D metallic structures are manufactured and the flexibility and strength of the obtained jointed-ribbons are tested. It is showed in the results that the tensile strength of the 3D metallic structures reaches about 70% of that of the raw materials, while their hardness almost keeps unchanged. Herein, an effective method to realize the manufacturing of the complex metallic structures in space is provided.