Design and Specifications for the Highland Regolith Prototype - NASA

Table 5. Calculated normative mineral composition of the Stillwater mill sandusing data of table 3. Oxides were normalized to 100% and an estimateof FeO:Fe 2 O 3 calculated following the method of Irvine and Baragar.Q (Quartz)OR (Orthoclase)AB (Albite)AN (Anorthite)Total PlagioclaseCalculated AN ContentDI (Diopside)HY (Hypersthene)Total PyroxeneOL (Olivine)MT (Magnetite)IL (Ilmenite)AP (Apatite)CM (Chromite)CIPW Normative MineralsWt %0.000.738.4355.8765.03–6.5122.7129.222.932.420.230.170.19Mole%0.000.728.8155.0564.5886.206.4623.7130.17245.533.221.720.160.150.13The study simulant design specified two types of glassy material, pseudo-agglutinate (oragglutinate for short) and simple or “good” glass. Both materials were prepared using a plasmamelter at the laboratories of Zybeck Advanced Products ® , Boulder, CO.The goal for producing pseudo-agglutinate was vesiculated cindery glass particles thatcontain a significant amount (>10%) of included crystalline material. This material was createdthrough a custom partial melting process. The proportion of glass to crystalline material is highlyvariable due to the process used, and no attempt or consideration was given to trying to constrainthe ratio other than it should be dominantly glass. An unplanned but useful byproduct of theagglutinate process was the generation of a small amount of glass beads (spherules) of variablecomposition that were also included in the simulants. In effect, these beads simulate the glass beadsthat occur in small amounts in most lunar soils (typically about 1–2% 6,7 ).Complete melting of Stillwater sand without vesicles or inclusions was the method usedto produce “good” glass.6