Date of Award
Summer 7-6-2026
Embargo Period
7-6-2027
Access Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Department
Aerospace Engineering
Committee Chair
Seetha Raghavan
Committee Chair Email
seetha.raghavan@erau.edu
First Committee Member
Zhou Yue
First Committee Member Email
zhouy@erau.edu
Second Committee Member
Daewon Kim
Second Committee Member Email
kimd3c@erau.edu
College Dean
James W. Gregory
Abstract
Long-duration lunar surface operations expose mechanical interfaces to abrasive regolith dust that active mitigation cannot reach inside confined sliding and rolling contacts. Those interfaces must therefore tolerate dust at the material level. This dissertation evaluates lithography-based ceramic manufacturing (LCM) of 3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) and 3YSZ-SiC composites as a passive, wear-tolerant material route for such hardware, asking whether a printed, SiC-reinforced zirconia can resist lunar-relevant abrasion and by what mechanisms.
Monolithic 3YSZ and composites containing 3, 7, and 10 vol% SiC were fabricated on a Lithoz CeraFab Multi 2M30 platform. A stage-resolved metrology study identified build orientation as one of the process parameters, with vertical builds venting debinding gases along the build axis and accumulating less form error than horizontal builds, where gas escape across stacked cured layers locks in distortion before densification. Monolithic 3YSZ reached essentially full density, while all SiC composites reached only 86 to 91% relative density, leaving 9 to 14% residual porosity.
Wear was characterized under two-body Taber abrasion and under three-body abrasion in the a dirty-vacuum chamber, using LMS-1D lunar regolith simulant and a combined protocol of mass loss, profilometry, optical morphology, and Raman phase mapping. Under regolith-representative two-body contact the printed material approached the specific wear rate range of conventionally sintered or hot-pressed dense zirconia, a performance level previously accessible only through pressure-assisted bulk routes. Raman mapping confirmed that stress-induced tetragonal-to-monoclinic transformation toughening was active under both abrasive conditions. In three-body testing, dust embedment rather than substrate removal was the dominant interfacial variable, atmospheric and vacuum exposure produced distinct dust-accumulation morphologies, and the two-body and three-body composition rankings did not agree.
LCM is a viable path to lunar‑grade abrasion‑resistant ceramics, but achieving flight readiness depends more on improving process densification than on further compositional tweaks. Because material choice alone cannot prevent three‑body wear, designs must also limit dust ingress.
Scholarly Commons Citation
Tirado Pujols, Ashley, "Investigating the Resilience of Ceramics Against Wear for Lunar Applications" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses. 1006.
https://commons.erau.edu/edt/1006
