Additive manufacturing of ceramic single and multi-material components - A groundbreaking innovation for space applications too?

The main advantages of ceramic materials are their excellent thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties. They also have a much lower density than metals, making them ideal for lightweight construction, which can also be interesting for space components. However, ceramics have not been widely used due to their low ductility and the challenges of mechanical processing using conventional methods like milling and turning. Additionally, integrating different functions into a single component has been limited. The introduction of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies has revolutionized this field. It is now possible to manufacture highly complex ceramic components with unprecedented functionality. By hybridizing different manufacturing technologies and materials, additional functions such as electrical contacts, sensors, and actuators can be directly integrated, leading to improved manufacturing costs and component properties. Three different demonstrator examples are presented in this paper to give a first impression of what will be possible in the field of space applications in the future. These examples are a ceramic igniter, a ceramic reactor for thermal decomposition of H2O2, and a ceramic aerospike engine.