By enabling reclamation of materials used by NASA's on-orbit 3d printing facilities, this effort will minimize the requirements for resupplying and/or storing excess feedstock for orbital and deep space missions that utilize 3D printing for replacement parts, unforeseen needs, and planned sequential repurposing of components for progressive phases of a given mission. The proposed effort supports the "In-Space Assembly, Fabrication and Repair" technical need identified in NASA Technology Roadmap 2012 TA12; WBS 2.4.1.d.
This novel process that is fundamentally better suited for reclaiming scrap material on the ISS will also be ideal for private consumers and professional users to recycle scraps from many commercial 3d printers. Several small companies have advertised bench-top extruder machines for making filament, some even being designed to recycle scraps, but all of those we are aware of are emulations of the traditional industrial process and are not sufficiently reliable for the average user. The Positrusion process would not be suited for high through-put industrial purposes, but it will be marketable to a large portion of the growing population of household and workplace 3d printer users to enable individuals to efficiently practice a self-sustaining 3D printer material cycle.
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