JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #94 - January/February 2015 - 17

Additive manufacturing,
3D printing and materials for space applications
Several 3D-printed components on KySat-2 were made
by CRP USA using CRP
Technology's proprietary
material Windform XT 2.0.
One of the subsystems - the
camera system (which acts as
an attitude determination system called Stellar Gyro) - has
3D-printed parts produced
using additive manufacturing
technology, selective laser
sintering and the Windform
XT 2.0 material. The additive
manufacturing process 3D
printed the mounting hardware for the camera system,
extensions for the separation
switches, clips for holding
the antennas in their stowed
position, and the mounting
bracket for the on-board batteries.
The process and the material were critical to achieve
the right components for
KySat-2.

Fig. 3: Mounting bracket for
the on-board batteries built with
Windform® XT 2.0

Tab. 1: Windform® XT 2.0 properties

Material: carbon fibre-reinforced polyamide
Density (20° C)

1.097 g/cc

Melting point

179.30°C

ISO 11357-2

HDT, 1.82 MPa

173.40°C

ISO 75-2 TYPE A

Vicat 10N

176.10°C

ISO 306 TYPE A50

Tensile strength

83.84 MPa

UNI EN ISO 527-1 :1997

Tensile modulus

8928.20 MPa

UNI EN ISO 527-1 :1997

Elongation at break

3.80%

UNI EN ISO 527-1 :1997

Flexural strength

133.00 MPa

UNI EN ISO 178 :2006

Flexural modulus

7338.20 MPa

UNI EN ISO 178 :2006

Impact strength,
unnotched (Charpy 23°C)

22.43 KJ/m2

UNI EN ISO 179:2000

Impact strength,
notched (Charpy 23°C)

4.72 KJ/m2

UNI EN ISO 179:2000

Impact strength,
unnotched (Izod 23°C)

19.26 KJ/m2

UNI EN ISO 180:2000

Impact strength,
notched (Izod 23°C)

5.30 KJ/m2

UNI EN ISO 180:2000

Together with CRP Technology, CRP USA produced five
Windform XT 2.0 parts that
are incorporated into the
deployable solar panels on
KySat-2: the camera annulus,
the lens cover, the deployable extensions, the antenna
clips, and the battery holders
(Figures 2 & 3). One of the
highest "levels" of Windform
materials, Windform XT
2.0 is a high-performance
material filled with carbon
fibre that offers maximum
mechanical performance
for 3D-printed parts. The
material combines maximum

toughness and robustness,
yet produces an extremely
light final part that does not
impact the overall production weight of the KySat-2
unit (see Table 1). Utilizing
the additive manufacturing
technology, selective laser
sintering (SLS), and the
Windform XT 2.0 material,
final parts for small productions can easily replace parts
that are usually produced
using traditional technology,
or are otherwise unmanufacturable. This makes
Windform a material that
can stretch the limits of SLS

About KySat-2
KySat-2 is the second satellite to be entirely designed, built, and tested by students of the
University of Kentucky and Morehead University. The development of the satellite began in
2011, shortly after the launch of KySat-1. KySat-2 features a 5-megapixel digital camera, a
temperature sensor, a 3-axis MEMS rate gyroscope, a 3-axis magnetometer, and a "stellar
gyroscope" which was developed by University of Kentucky students. Once in orbit, the satellite will use RF signals to communicate with the ground station, receiving commands and
transmitting data and photos. The primary objective of KySat-2 is proof of concept.
[Source: ssl.engineering.uky.edu]

No94 January - February 2015 /

applications, even in space
applications.

Prospects
KySat-2 was launched on
board a Minotaur I rocket
built by Orbital Sciences.
Typically, the operational
lifetime for a CubeSat is
around 1 year due to radiation exposure and damage
to the batteries. KySat-2 will
remain operational as long
as the team is able to make
reliable contact with the
satellite. n

More information:
www.windform.com
www.crp.eu
www.windform.eu
http://ssl.engineering.uky.
edu/
Contact: fcuoghi@crp.eu
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=cx5rnXNR07U&list=
UUYbzTkDfrumpOc00TkKrJiA&
noredirect=1

jec composites magazine 17

http://www.windform.com http://www.crp.eu http://www.windform.eu http://ssl.engineering.uky.edu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx5rnXNR07U&list=UUYbzTkDfrumpOc00TkKrJiA&noredirect=1 http://ssl.engineering.uky.edu

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #94 - January/February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #94 - January/February 2015