Microwave Sintering of Simulated Moon Rock

The focus of this research was to determine the feasibility of using microwave energy to sinter simulated moon rock.Microwave processing is often used as an alternative to traditional sintering of ceramic materials for its energy efficiency and decreased sintering times.In lunar applications, microwaves would be a more useful for sintering than traditional methods because microwave devices may be transported more easily and with less cost.As found, moon rock does not have the needed physical and thermal properties suitable for its use as a structural material for a lunar base or orbiting structure.[1,2] However, sintered moon rock may have those required characteristics.To evaluate the potential for using microwave energy to sinter simulated moon rock, both stand-alone and hybrid heating methods were tested.Based on collected data, an 1100-watt commercial microwave oven can emit enough energy to rapidly reach the sintering temperature of moon rock using hybrid heating methods.Further research needs to be conducted to compare the physical characteristics of moon rock sintered conventionally and with microwave energy.