What the heck is Sintering?
I went down an impromtu rabbit hole today that links geology and space exploration. I’d been listening to a podcast that mentioned Mars missions, and did a search for ‘Mars jump rooms’ online, curious to see what images are available for ordinary mortals to view. I found a link to a company making ‘tiles’ out of basalt for use on Mars and the Moon.
Basalt, huh. The moai statues on Easter Island are solid basalt. So is the Rosetta Stone.
Hawaiian basalt is being converted into “tiles” to show the way to construct launch pads on the Moon or Mars.
The tiles are being fabricated to handle dynamic rocket blasts from arriving and departing spacecraft.
The work is being championed by the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration (PISCES), a state-funded, Hawaii aerospace agency.
Very cool. Well I’d never heard of PISCES (other than the zodiac signs) This was getting juicy! So I looked them up https://pacificspacecenter.com/
Basalt Launchpad Tiles to Undergo Testing at NASA
by PISCES | Sep 1, 2020
Yup, it’s a real place. There’s a photo captioned: ‘Geology Tech Kyla Edison removes basalt launchpad tiles from their casting molds after sintering.’ What an exciting project to be working on.
But what on earth is sintering??
Sintering or frittage is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by pressure[1] or heat[2] without melting it to the point of liquefaction.
Because the sintering temperature does not have to reach the melting point of the material, sintering is often chosen as the shaping process for materials with extremely high melting points such as tungsten and molybdenum. An example of sintering can be observed when ice cubes in a glass of water adhere to each other, which is driven by the temperature difference between the water and the ice. Examples of pressure-driven sintering are the compacting of snowfall to a glacier, or the formation of a hard snowball by pressing loose snow together.
And this is where iron oxide pops up!
Sintering is part of the firing process used in the manufacture of pottery and other ceramic objects. These objects are made from substances such as glass, alumina, zirconia, silica, magnesia, lime, beryllium oxide, and ferric oxide.
Well there you go.
I find it interesting learning how every day items are made, and also how the same starting blocks/materials are used across industries- the iron oxide inside makeup, and ceramics.
I also noted molybdenum mentioned- that’s a trace mineral our bodies needs for healthy hair, nails, removing sulphites and more. Molybdenum is found naturally in a few of the aromatherapy ‘fixed’ oils.
See again how there’s an overlap between different worlds…nutrition- geology-space exploration. And speaking of aromatherapy, it’s time for me to get back to my copper still.
That’s all for today. It’s rose harvest so I’ll get back to my traditional copper pot and contemplate the wonderful chemistry of roses. Thanks for reading.
PS:
A little birdy tells me there’s more to come on basalt! (Hint hint- 3 amigos)