Potential of bio-inspired micromeshes for the design of rigid-shell aerostats: microplating manufacturing process based on additive manufacturing.

仿生微网格在硬壳浮空器设计中的潜力：基于增材制造的微电镀制造工艺。

• 批准号: 560897-2020
• 负责人: StOnge, David
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: École de technologie supérieure
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=707329
• 关键词: Potential; bio; inspired; micromeshes; design

Airship design and manufacturing has recently known a renewed interest in Canada, as shown by the massive amounts (several millions) pulled in venture funding by BASI and Flying Whales. The NOVA project proposed here aims to develop a novel manufacturing technology that could lead to breakthroughs useful for outdoor and indoor airships, while making them safer for applications involving humans. Many applications have been proposed for indoor airships: structural inspection, underground exploration, monitoring of areas to be secured, monitoring of goods in a warehouse, detection of gas leaks in factories... However, none have yet materialized. The main barriers to their adoption remain their large volume and the fragility of their envelope. We decided to explore the concept of rigid-shell aerostatic flying machines to which we gave the name "aerostabiles". For any aerostats, most of the mass is concentrated at the surfaces of the gas-containing enclosure, which therefore must have a very low surface density. This is not a problem for a flexible membrane, but the implementation of envelopes that are simultaneously very light, impermeable and rigid was unconceivable up to now. In our current research, we planned to use 3D printed micromeshes made of hollow tubes of metallic materials or rods of polymer. While exploring this path, the possibility to explore in depth one of the most promising manufacturing methods appeared through a collaboration with Prof. McDonald (UofA), a new team member for this proposal. This approach involves templates made of light-polymer solid rod lattices; these templates are plated with a thin metallic layer; the polymer is then eliminated thanks to a specific solvent, leaving a lattice of thin hollow tubes whose wall thickness is a few micrometers. Similar techniques were shown to achieve high strength with unprecedented low density and to exhibit elastic recovery. The resulting ultralight structures have an enormous potential for the future development of lighter-than-air vehicles.

BASI 和 Flying Whales 吸引了大量（数百万）风险投资，这表明加拿大最近对飞艇设计和制造产生了新的兴趣。这里提出的 NOVA 项目旨在开发一种新颖的制造技术，该技术可以为室外和室内飞艇带来突破，同时使它们对于涉及人类的应用更加安全。 人们提出了室内飞艇的许多应用：结构检查、地下勘探、受保护区域的监控、仓库中的货物监控、工厂中的气体泄漏检测……但是，尚未实现。采用它们的主要障碍仍然是其体积大和外壳脆弱。我们决定探索刚性外壳空气静力飞行器的概念，我们将其命名为“aerostabiles”。对于任何浮空器，大部分质量都集中在含气体外壳的表面，因此必须具有非常低的表面密度。对于柔性膜来说这不是问题，但迄今为止，实现同时非常轻、不渗透和刚性的外壳是不可想象的。在我们目前的研究中，我们计划使用由金属材料空心管或聚合物棒制成的 3D 打印微网格。在探索这条道路的过程中，通过与该提案的新团队成员 McDonald 教授（UofA）的合作，出现了深入探索最有前途的制造方法之一的可能性。这种方法涉及由轻质聚合物实心棒晶格制成的模板；这些模板镀有薄金属层；然后，由于特定的溶剂，聚合物被消除，留下壁厚为几微米的薄空心管的网格。类似的技术已被证明可以以前所未有的低密度实现高强度，并表现出弹性恢复。由此产生的超轻结构对于未来轻于空气​​的飞行器的发展具有巨大的潜力。