An experimental platform for rapid melting and solidification of metal materials in space

Additive manufacturing of metal parts in space is one of the potential means to realize on-orbit maintenance of aircraft. However, the basic phenomena such as the rapid melting and solidification behavior of metallic materials under the action of high-energy beams in space are unclear. It is necessary to observe those phenomena and reveal basic laws through space experiments. Therefore, an experimental platform for rapid melting and solidification of metal materials is developed. There are two parts included in this platform. A detailed design of the manufacturing system in space is described at first while the in lab experimental system on the ground is introduced also. In order to simulate the vacuum environment in space, a vacuum chamber is used to contain the core unit of the experimental system. Laser is used to melt a metal wire during the experiment while a positioning stage is adopted to shape the melted wire. The melting and solidification process is controlled automatically while it is monitored by a machine vision system at the same time.