Construction additive manufacturing has emerged as a trending area in civil engineering and architecture. Start-ups like Build link, Branch Technology, and COBOD International are doing good construction additive manufacturing. The construction industry is always backed with research support. Research support and research awareness become significant in the case of new and emerging areas like construction additive manufacturing.
Recent
Research and Developments
The article summarizes some of the top research papers in construction additive manufacturing to improve the research knowledge. The article covers treading topics such as the application of multi-material additive manufacturing in construction, development of clay and ceramic building materials, the end effect of process parameters on 3d printed composite cement, and research on expansive cementitious materials.
Multi-material additive manufacturing for the construction and architecture industry.
A group of researchers for the Netherlands published a review article on multi-material-based additive manufacturing for the construction industry. The researchers described different methods and processes for multi-material printing and focused on the advantages and limitations of other multi-material printing materials.
For 3D printing, the multi-materials can be extruded into two ways, first when the multi-materials are printed parallel to each other, second when the multi-materials are published as a blend of two or more materials. The advantage of printing multi-materials in parallel to each other is that they can be printed using similar excursion systems and applied to paste and liquid type construction printing. The limitation of the process is that printed materials have sharp edges, and only predetermined properties can be created. The second method discussed by the researchers was publishing the material as a blend of the two materials. The advantage of this method is that graded transition between materials is possible, and the printed material can be developed with variable properties. The limitation of the process is that an additional mixing set-up is required to prepare the blend, and the time for printing increases as the time for blending additions.
The advantage of this method is that it helps mitigate most of the challenges for the construction industry, such as limited adaptability, comparable properties, and environmental issues. But there is a lack of evidence of the usages and applicability of this method in practice.
Additive manufacturing of clay and ceramic building components
A group of researchers from Germany published a review on the construction application of the clay and ceramic 3d printed building components. The use of clay 3D printed parts, and ceramic 3d printed parts is novel in the area of construction additive manufacturing and has the potential to overcome various challenges in the industry.
The paper discussed the application of ceramic and clay printing in civil construction by discussing twenty-seven projects—the construction projects aimed to improve areas such as sustainability, aesthetics, and material support. The projects also opened the doors to interdisciplinary research in an innovative manner.
The main limitation of this technology is that most of its applications are in project state and need to be researched in-depth further to implement them in the vast volume of projects. However, applying the particular clay will add a new dimension concerning the aesthetics of the civil elements.
The process parameters are highly significant for any 3D printing process. Additionally, optimum process parameters ensure that the properties of the materials are utilized to the maximum extent. To identify appropriate process parameters for the 3D printed composite, researchers from China conducted a study.
The study results suggest that the optimum printing speed is 50mm/s for composite cement-based printing. Width h of printing line decreases, and with an increase in the printing speed and printing thickness of each layer attends a particular leveling stage. The study’s main conclusion was that the printing quality of intermittent printing with joints is higher than that of continuous printing.
Concerning cement and concrete printing, it is recommended to use the process parameters suggested by the manufacturer of the printing machine in most industrial cases. But, if experimentation is performed as per paper studies, the findings can improve the overall quality of the printing.
Expansive cementitious materials to improve micro-cable reinforcement bond in 3D concrete printing
Bending strength is an essential property of the concrete as the performance of the civil structure developed mainly depends upon it. Studies on reinforcement of the 3D printed concrete show that micro-cable support improves its mechanical properties. Researchers from China improved the mechanical properties further by adding expansive cementitious materials (ECMs) in the cable–concrete interface during the printing process.
The researchers added the expansive cementitious material during the 3D printing process using a lab-developed pullout device. The experimental results showed a 44%–67% increase in the bond strength of the 3D printed concrete and a 30%–50% reduction in crack width, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method by the researchers.
The main benefit of the study is that the improvement in the bond strength will ensure that structures developed by the 3D printing process require less material and are more reliable. But, the development of an industrial pullout device, based upon the study’s findings, will require rigorous testing.
The selection of the highly cited papers is based upon a google scholar search, and papers were selected manually by the author.
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