Mon, 17 June, 2019
Technology Fellow for surface engineering, Dave Harvey, presented at a workshop organised by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 7 June, 2019 at ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
The presentation on the topic of ‘Cold spray additive manufacturing of small-scale Ti alloy propulsion tanks’ was delivered as part of ESA’s CubeSat programme.
TWI has recently demonstrated the feasibility of additively manufacturing small Ti alloy propulsion tanks using cold spray forming and is currently working on a joint exploratory project with ESA-ESTEC to determine key mechanical properties of the cold sprayed Ti alloys in the expectation that this will proceed to higher TRL development and ultimately manufacture.
The event was attended by leading industrialists, research technology organisations and universities in the CubeSat supply chain.
CubeSats are nanosatellites weighing between 1 and 10 kilograms. The shape of the CubeSats mean that they are easily stacked together according to the needs of the mission, while they can readily hitch a ride into orbit on a container, minimising flight safety issues and keeping the costs low.
You can find out more about ESA’s use of CubeSat technology here.
Other speakers at the event included representatives from Imperial College London, Air Liquide Advanced Technologies, Politecnico Di Milano, and Exotrail, among others.
Cold Spray Forming of Propellant Tank