01 / Contract Profile

80NSSC22M0273 Federal Contract Award

Agency code 8000

WE EXPECT THIS RESEARCH WILL LEAD TO BOTH CRITICAL SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES. (I) THIS STUDY WILL GENERATE NEW KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE ACOUSTIC EFFECTS ON MICRO/NANOPARTICLES IN LIQUIDS UNDER REDUCED GRAVITY. (II) THIS STUDY WILL LEAD TO NOVEL ACOUSTOFLUIDIC TECHNOLOGIES AND FULLY FUNCTIONAL PLATFORMS FOR ACTIVELY MANIPULATING (I.E., CONCENTRATING, PATTERNING, AND ALIGNING) MICRO/NANOPARTICLES IN LIQUIDS UNDER REDUCED GRAVITY. (III) THIS STUDY WILL LEAD TO AN ACOUSTICS-ASSISTED 3D PRINTING PLATFORM, WHICH CAN PRINT MULTIFUNCTIONAL COMPOSITE STRUCTURES IN REDUCED GRAVITY ENVIRONMENTS. PARTICULARLY, THE PRINTED COMPOSITE STRUCTURES WILL CONTAIN LATTICE-LIKE PATTERNS OF PARTICLES, AND WE EXPECT THESE PATTERNED INTERNAL PARTICLES CAN TAILOR THE MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF PRINTED COMPOSITES. THIS PROJECT ALIGNS WITH THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE PROGRAM OF THE NASA SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE BY CONTRIBUTING TO THE RESEARCH ON COLLOIDS IN MICROGRAVITY. MOREOVER, THIS PROJECT ALIGNS WELL WITH THE ADVANCED MANUFACTURING PROGRAM OF THE NASA SPACE TECHNOLOGY MISSION DIRECTORATE. SPECIFICALLY, THE ACOUSTICS-ASSISTED 3D PRINTING PLATFORM TO BE DEVELOPED IN THIS PROJECT WILL GREATLY CONTRIBUTE TO SPACE AND SURFACE MANUFACTURING TOWARD SUSTAINABLE EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES, AS MENTIONED IN THE LETTER OF SUPPORT PROVIDED BY DR. PROTZ: CREATE CONTROLLED POLYMER MATRIX COMPOSITES BY 3D PRINTING IN LOW G ENVIRONMENTS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REDUCE UP MASS AND EFFECTIVELY USE AVAILABLE RESOURCES ON MARS FOR EXAMPLE.