The development of new materials capable of performing in extreme environmental conditions, allowing an important advance in the design and construction of space thrusters.
This is the goal of Atlas (Advanced Design of High Entropy Alloys Based Materials for Space Propulsion), a project coordinated by the Politecnico di Milano as part of the Horizon 2020-SPACE program and funded with 3 million euros.
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One of the major problems related to space missions is in fact the need to create systems capable of working without failing in extreme environments, with temperatures ranging from deeply below zero to thermal peaks of hundreds of degrees. In particular, the propulsion systems are severely stressed and require adequate sizing to resist in such conditions, which does not go in the same direction as the maximum containment of weights.
The solution to this problem is the development of ad hoc materials, capable of combining the different properties required and maintaining them in extreme environments, such as those in which space missions take place.
The Atlas project aims to develop new materials based on High Entropy Alloys, capable of combining in extreme conditions, low density, high strength and ductility, resistance to oxidation, good fatigue properties and deformation.