Material, Part 2

In Material Part 1, the core concept of how materials and properties play a core role in LithoBreak was introduced. This post will dive more into what materials will be available and what sort of technologies will be involved to process them. These materials and processes are key to building up and sustaining a remote mining infrastructure.

In LithoBreak Season 1 there are three material types with numerous variants of each. Each material type has different means of processing and desirable properties. Materials are used to make other materials, as the inputs to produce parts, and even serve as propulsion for spacecraft.

More references can be gleaned from the Materials and Processes sections of the wiki.

Ceramics

The starting material in LithoBreak is regolith mined from the surface of the moon. This abundant, fine crystalline powder is classified as a impure ceramic material.

Each ceramic material consist of various base crystalline percentages, such as silicon dioxide (SiO₂) and aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃). These weighted crystalline percentages then contribute to the resulting properties such as density, compressive strength and melting temperature.

The basic process is to sort out these base crystals by density. However, due to the difficulties in attaining high purity material. It is usually suggested to sift and mix materials just enough to attain the desired properties.

The most common scenario needed for high purity ceramics is in the production of metals, where slag in the low gravity environment will greatly reduce production rates.

Metals

The majority of metals are made by implementing a reduction process on high purity ceramics. This reduction process is rarely direct, which means it ‘consumes’ another metal as a reducing agent.

Once a pure metal has been manufactured, it can either be used directly or alloyed to improve material properties. Pure metals will generally have better electrical and thermal conductivities, while alloys will be better suited for high strength applications.

A solid production line of several metals will be needed to create pressurized tanks to process fluids.

Example Inert Smelter Reaction:
2 Al₂O₃ -> 4 Al + 3 O₂

Example Thermite Smelter Reaction:
4 Al + 3 SiO₂ -> 3 Si + 2 Al₂O₃

Fluids

Fluids in LithoBreak consist of both gasses and liquids which require temperature regulation systems and pressurized environments. Along with the added handling complexity, come numerous new processes.

Some of these fluids are used directly, such as rocket fuel, while others are used in more advanced ceramic and metal productions.

With LithoBreak still in development, the specific fluid processes are not finalized yet. We welcome you to check out the LithoBreak Steam Store Page or join the Tau Ceti Labs Discord Server for updated information and feedback.