Casting Station
Ingot + Slab + Powder-Atomisation Casting Outputs
The casting station is a 100-kilogram production unit that processes smelted melt into 5-kilogram ingots, slabs, and 15 to 45 micrometer atomized powders for downstream manufacturing. Consuming 200 watts of electrical power, the hardware relies on 316L stainless steel dies, sand-cast molds, and gas atomizers regulated by an integrated thermal coolant loop. While operating within the lunar vacuum enables the production of clean powder at 5 kilograms per hour for additive manufacturing, maintaining process reliability requires long-life dies and durable nozzles capable of achieving a 30,000-hour mean time between failures across a 20-year operational lifetime.
Multi-format casting station producing standard ingots, slabs, and atomised powders for downstream L1-MFG processes.
Purpose
Multi-format casting station producing standard ingots, slabs, and atomised powders for downstream L1-MFG processes.
Context
Child of L2-MFG-SMELT within the Lunar Ark system
Principles
- ▸Per-format mold (ingot, slab, atomiser)
- ▸Gas atomiser produces 15-45 um powder for SLM
- ▸Ingots for L3-MFG-MACH machining stock
- ▸Cooling via L1-TCS coolant
- ▸Robotic demolding via L1-ROB
Typical implementations
- ▸Industrial atomisation (Atomising Systems Ltd, Praxair)
- ▸Aerospace ingot casting
- ▸Foundry casting heritage
Lunar considerations
- ▸Vacuum atomisation produces clean powder
- ▸Long-life dies and atomiser nozzles
- ▸Coordinated with L3-MFG-3DP-FEED
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Multi-format casting station producing standard ingots, slabs, and atomised powders for downstream L1-MFG processes. |
| powder throughput kg per hour | 5 |
| ingot mass kg | 5 |
Physical
| mass kg | 100 |
| materials | Sand-cast molds, Atomiser nozzles, 316L SS dies |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
Operational
| power consumption w | 200 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 20 |
| mtbf hours | 30000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Atomised powder for SLM
- Ingots/slabs for machining
Requires
- Refined alloy melt
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Casting Station" (L3-MFG-SMELT-CAST). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-MFG-SMELT-CAST
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.