Page 11 - Summer 2025

Multiphoton 3D Lithography produces minute First Testing Facility for testing Materials replicated anywhere in the world at the moment,
Replica of Sorbonne University Chapel 3D-printed in Space will help regulatory authorities to make safety
standards for in-space manufacturing informed by
An advanced laser nanofabrication technique The world’s first dedicated facility for testing the
real-world testing”.
known as multiphoton 3D lithography has been structural integrity of materials that are 3D-printed
used to produce a minute replica of Sorbonne in space has been constructed at the University of Reference: ‘First-of-its-kind Test Facility could help Space Industry
University Chapel. Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering. dodge a Bullet’, Instrumentation Monthly, May 2025, p.5

The NextSpace Testrig uses a specially constructed
vacuum chamber that can generate temperatures
from -150 to +250 degrees Centigrade, recreating
space-like conditions on Earth, and features an
automatic magazine system that can autonomously
test multiple samples in a single cycle, making it
Earthquake Simulation Stress Tests 3D-printed
significantly more efficient than traditional testing
Concrete House methods. The system can apply up to 20kN of force
Scientists at the University of Bristol have deployed (equivalent to 2000 kg) to break samples and analyse
the UK’s largest shaking table to simulate the their properties under vacuum conditions similar
effects of a medium-magnitude earthquake on a to those in space, and subject samples to cycles of
3D-printed concrete house. extreme temperature.
Traditional concrete structures have well-established Prototype 3D-printers have already been sent into
seismic resilience, but 3D-printed concrete structures
orbit and metal parts have been 3D-printed on board
introduce new variables such as layered deposition, the International Space Station, but so far no research
unique material properties and unique geometries.
facility has ever been dedicated to ensuring that
Testing used a high-end shaking table capable polymers, ceramics and metals that are printed in
of holding up to 50 tonnes and of simulating the space will be able to withstand the physical strains
ground motions representative of a real earthquake. that they will face.
The house was created using a robotic additive
The replica, the length of which is approximately 120
manufacturing process with controlled material micrometres, and which is around 275,000 times Imperfections such as tiny bubbles or poorly melted
deposition and geometry, and incorporated sections that may be inconsequential on Earth could
smaller than the real chapel, was produced by
accelerometers, displacement sensors and various Dr. Gordon Zyla, a senior researcher at the Vilnius have serious effects in space, such as shattering,
gauges designed to capture a comprehensive set of scattering hazardous fragments.
University Faculty of Physics. With all of the intricate
dynamic response data. architectural details of the original preserved, it was
Dr. Gilles Bailet, who developed the NextSpace Testrig
In the test the unit was subjected to increasing gifted to the President of Sorbonne University, Professor in partnership with The Manufacturing Technology
intensity ground motion with each test sequence Nathalie Drach-Temam during a high-level delegation Centre, states:
allowing for real-time assessment of cracking, visit.
displacement and potential failure points. The “ 3D-printing is a very promising technology for
Dr. Zyla explains how this advanced form of
resultant data then enabled evaluation of the 3D-printing operates: allowing us to build very complex structures directly
structured resilience of the 3D-printed unit, allowing in orbit instead of taking them into space on
for comparison of its performance relative to “Unlike conventional 3D-printing, this approach rockets. It could enable us to create a wide variety
traditional construction methods and validation of can solidify a light-sensitive material at virtually of devices, from lightweight communications
any point in space, enabling the fabrication of antennas to solar reflectors to structural parts of
computational models that are used as predictors of
truly three-dimensional structures. Interestingly, spacecraft or even human habitats for missions to
seismic behaviour.
by using a sharply-focused ultrashort-pulse laser the Moon and beyond.
Project Lead Dr. Raffaele De Risi states: beam, it is possible to initiate a polymerisation
However, the potential also comes with significant
reaction with such precision that it creates spatial
“Insights from this study will help identify design risk, which may be magnified if efforts to start
elements, or voxels, just a few hundred nanometres
parameters that optimise seismic performance, 3D-printing in space are rushed out instead of
in size. For comparison, a human hair is about 80
such as layer bonding strategies and being properly tested. Objects move very fast in
micrometres thick, roughly 500 times wider than
reinforcement integration. orbit, and if a piece of a poorly made structure
the structures created by this method.
breaks off it will end up circling the Earth with a
Ultimately we hope to validate whether 3D-printed
Simple spherical microelements - six times smaller velocity of a rifle bullet. If it hits another object like a
concrete can meet current safety standards for
than the chapel - can improve the resolution satellite or spacecraft, it could cause catastrophic
seismic applications and provide a foundation for
of optical microscopes beyond what standard damage, as well as increase the potential of
developing building codes that include additive
lenses can achieve. Other tiny structures, carefully cascading problems as debris from any collisions
manufacturing technologies.
arranged in patterns, can shape and control cause further damage to other objects.
By testing the seismic resilience of 3D-printed light in new ways to enable novel interactions
The NextSpace Testrig is open to academic
concrete for the first time, we’re not just exploring with matter. This may open up possibilities for
colleagues, researchers and commercial clients
the future of construction, we’re helping shape future applications in bio-imaging, quantum
from around the world to help them ensure that
a safer, smarter and more adaptive built technologies, telecommunications and laser
any materials they plan to 3D-print in space will
environment”. technologies”. work safely. We also expect that the data we’ll be
gathering in the years to come, which can’t be
Reference: West, P., Electronic Specifier, 18th. June Reference: Miles, S., ‘Vilnius University’s Gift to Sorbonne University
President’, Electronic Specifier, 1st. July
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