Effects of TiO₂ content on microstructure, thermal and mechanical properties of microwave sintered lunar 

regolith simulant

Zekai Wang, Yan Zhou, Long Xiao,

Cheng Zhou & Lieyun Ding

Abstract

Dense building components can be fabricated using lunar regolith simulants prepared via microwave sintering. In this study, the microstructure and properties of such simulants containing high (14.72%), medium (6.71%), and low (1.7%) TiO₂ contents prepared via microwave sintering at different temperatures (1030°C–1070°C) were studied. The sample sintered at 1060°C with 14.72% TiO₂ content exhibited the highest compressive strength of (125.2 ± 22) MPa. This was because high TiO₂ content was more conducive to densification due to microwave sintering. The influence of TiO₂ content and sintering temperature on the strength of microwave-sintered samples was statistically analyzed, which revealed that sintering temperature was the main influencing factor (F value = 187.3) and TiO₂ content was the auxiliary influencing factor (F value = 4.91). Using an enhanced multilayer perceptron model, a continuous surface diagram and prediction model were developed. These were then used to determine the influence of sintering temperature and TiO₂ content on the compressive strength as well as to predict compressive strength with comparable accuracy. This study provides insights into microwave sintering of materials for future lunar construction.

Keywords ：lunar regolith simulant;microwave sintering;thermal property;mechanical property;modeling and prediction

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11431-024-2877-1