Mechanical deterioration of sintered lunar regolith simulants under extreme cryogenic-thermal cycling

The construction of lunar bases represents a crucial goal for long-term human residence on the Moon and future deep-space exploration. Vacuum sintering of lunar regolith for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is considered one of the most feasible strategies for early lunar infrastructure development. However, the extreme temperature fluctuations on the lunar surface pose potential threats to the structural stability of sintered regolith materials. To investigate the mechanical deterioration and damage mechanism of vacuum-sintered lunar regolith under extreme cryogenic-thermal cycling, lunar regolith simulants are used to fabricate specimens through vacuum sintering. A series of cryogenic-thermal cycling tests is designed, combined with uniaxial compression and X-ray CT scanning, to systematically analyze their macro-micro responses. The results show that with increasing extreme cryogenic-thermal cycles, the stress-strain curves evolve from typical brittle failure to quasi-ductile behavior, with uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus decreasing by approximately 33.86% and 61.98%, respectively. CT analyses reveal that the pore structure transforms from isolated pores to connected networks, with the pore volume fraction increasing from 13.33% to 22.64%, and the fractal dimension increases from 2.465 to 2.544, and stabilizes after multiple cycles. A significant negative correlation (R2​> 0.96) exists between pore structural complexity and mechanical performance. Based on these findings, a thermal fatigue damage mechanism dominated by thermal stress concentration due to mismatched thermal expansion coefficients among mineral phases is proposed. This study provides scientific insights for the design, durability evaluation, and ISRU-based construction of lunar surface infrastructure.