What might prevent metal “blowing” and other forms of shaping from working if gravity was not a factor? Let’s handwave-ignore the extremes of temperature as it relates to techniques and the present primitive space habitats and craft.

Is it possible to suspend a pool of molten metal, with a tube inside, spin while adding a gas to shape a container, and form more complex shapes through additional heat cycles in a repeatable process?

  • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It would take substantially less energy to make metal molten in space. As air pressure drops, the temperature needed for materials to change states becomes lower. That’s why water boils much faster on a mountaintop than it does at sea level.

    The metal would be manually workable at relatively low temperatures. Without air, you would need a tank of a gaseous substance to “blow” into the metal.