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Virtual and Physical Prototyping
DOI:
10.1080/17452759.2016.1209867
Published: 02/07/2016
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To cite this article: Freek Bos, Rob Wolfs, Zeeshan Ahmed & Theo Salet (2016) Additive
manufacturing of concrete in construction: potentials and challenges of 3D concrete printing, Virtual
and Physical Prototyping, 11:3, 209-225, DOI: 10.1080/17452759.2016.1209867
Download by: [Eindhoven University of Technology] Date: 12 September 2017, At: 00:14
VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL PROTOTYPING, 2016
VOL. 11, NO. 3, 209–225
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17452759.2016.1209867
Additive manufacturing; 3D
infancy. Different variants in this family of manufacturing methods are being developed and concrete printing; 3DCP;
improved continuously. Fundamental scientific understanding of the relations between design, printing technology;
material, process, and product is being explored. The collective body of work in that area is still construction
very limited. After sketching the potential of AMoC for construction, this paper introduces the
variants of AMoC under development around the globe and goes on to describe one of these in
detail, the 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) facility of the Eindhoven University of Technology. It is
compared to other AMoC methods as well as to 3D printing in general. Subsequently, the paper
will address the characteristics of 3DCP product geometry and structure, and discuss issues on
parameter relations and experimental research. Finally, it will present the primary obstacles that
stand between the potential of 3DCP and large-scale application in practice, and discuss the
expected evolution of AMoC in general.
output, but it is still significant. The fact that concrete raw than that, it could allow for a whole new design
materials are cheap, does not stimulate economical use approach. Since the print head gradually builds up the
and thus makes CO2 reduction difficult. complete structure, it is feasible that the composition
Another main challenge is related to the physical and quantity of the printed material can be parametri-
labour involved, particularly for in situ cast concrete. cally varied from one location to another, according to
Both the erection of moulds and the placement of specific local requirements. A conceptual result of such
reinforcement still require physically demanding labour, an approach is given in Figure 1.
particularly when bespoke geometries are required. Albeit a steadily growing number of researchers and
This results in personal health issues of construction private enterprises active in this field, AMoC is still in its
workers that should be avoided as much as possible, infancy. Different variants in this family of manufacturing
particularly with an ageing work force as in many devel- methods are being developed and improved continu-
oped countries. The Occupational Health and Safety ously. Fundamental scientific understanding of the
Administration of the US Department of Labor lists as relations between design, material, process, and
potential hazards for workers in the concrete industry: product is being explored. The collective body of work
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eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation from exposure in that area is still very limited. After sketching the poten-
to cement dust; inadequate safety guards on equipment; tial of AMoC for construction, this paper introduces the
inadequate lockout/tagout systems on machinery; variants of AMoC under development around the globe
overexertion and awkward postures; slips, trip and falls; and goes on to describe one of these in detail, the 3D Con-
and chemical burns from wet concrete (Occupation crete Printing (3DCP) facility of the Eindhoven University
Health and Safety Administration; US Department of of Technology. It is compared to other AMoC methods
Labor [OSHA], 2004). A third challenge the concrete as well as to 3D printing in general. Subsequently, the
construction industry is facing is the use of material. paper will address the characteristics of 3DCP product
Besides the moulds themselves, the necessity to make geometry and structure, and discuss issues on parameter
them and the low cost of raw materials discourage relations and experimental research. Finally, it will present
intricate structurally optimised geometries, but rather the primary obstacles that stand between the potential of
favour geometrical simplicity over optimal material use. 3DCP and large-scale application in practice, and discuss
New Additive Manufacturing methods such as three- the expected evolution of AMoC in general.
dimensional (3D) printing have been explored for the con-
struction of concrete since the mid-1990s. In this paper
these methods are generically indicated as AMoC, while 2. Current AMoC technologies
specific methods developed by different enterprises and
2.1. History
research groups are designated with the names the oper-
ators themselves generally indicate them with. Since the mid-1990s, technologies have been developed
AMoC has the potential to address the challenges to manufacture solid objects through robotised depo-
facing concrete construction described above. More sition in stone-like materials without moulds, on a scale
Figure 1. Conceptual result of material customisation by location (dubbed the ‘colour’ printer, metaphorically, because of its capability
to print different materials at different places).
VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL PROTOTYPING 211
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Figure 2. Images of AMoC by various institutes: (a) Minibuilders (Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia), (b) Concrete Printing
(University of Loughborough), (c) Contour Crafting (University of Southern California), and (d) D-shape.
relevant to buildings (10−1–101 m). A variety of depo- single large robot operating in a predefined space,
sition strategies, robots, printer heads, and materials but rather a group of small robots using sensoring
have been used. technology to know their relative position and swarm
A graphical impression of the development of 3D technology to work together.
printing in the construction industry has been given An altogether different approach, similar to Stereo-
by Langenberg (2015). Developments started in the Lithograhy, was adopted by Enrico Dini, named
mid-1990s in California, USA, when Khoshnevis intro- DShape (Colla and Dini 2013, Cesaretti et al. 2014, Dha-
duced a technique termed Counter Crafting, see pe.com 2016). He filed his first patent in 2006 and has
Figure 2(a) (Khoshnevis 1998, 2004, Khoshnevis et al. been developing a range of objects since. Currently,
2001, 2006). This involves the deposition of layers of Universe Architecture and contractor BAM are using
continuous concrete-like filament on top of each the DShape technique to develop the Landscape
other. With a few notable exceptions, most AMoC facili- House in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (3dprint.com
ties around the globe operate on the basis of this Fused 2016a).
Deposition Modelling (FDM) principle. Until approxi- In 2012, a turning point occurs. The number of entities
mately 2012, developments have been steady. exploring 3D printing for construction explodes, turning
Besides Khoshnevis, pioneering work was done by the previously more or less linear development into a
the University of Loughborough (Le et al. 2011a, quasi-exponential one. Currently, developments are
2011b, Lim et al. 2011, 2012; Figure 2(b)), Shanghai- going so fast that any overview of existing techniques
based contractor Winsun, and the company Total and examples is out-of-date almost as soon as it is pub-
Kustom in Minnesota, USA. An alternative to working lished. Nevertheless, Lim et al. (2012), Wolfs (2015), and
with single, large robots was introduced by the Insti- Wu et al. (2016) give a sound impression of the develop-
tute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia in 2014 ment of the state of affairs.
(IAAC 2014; Figure 2(c)). While applying a similar extru- New projects are presented on a regular basis. Some
sion technique, the deposition instrument is not a noteworthy examples include (Figure 3):
212 F. BOS ET AL.
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Figure 3. Noteworthy examples of projects using AMoC: (a) Two-storey house in China by HuaShang Tengda, (b) Office building in
Dubai by Winsun, (c) five-storey building in Suzhou, China, by Winsun, (d) Hotel suite interior in the Philippines, by Total Kustom,
(e) Villa in Suzhou by Winsun, (f) Castle in Minnesota, USA, by Total Kustom, and (g) series of 10 houses in Suzhou, by Winsun.
. Two-storey house in China, measuring 400 m2, built gantry robot serving a print area of 9 × 4.5 × 2.8 m. The
by Beijing-based HuaShang Tengda in 2016 (3dprint.- motion parameters maximum speed vmax and
com 2016b). maximum acceleration amax are listed in Table 1. The
. Office building in Dubai, UAE, measuring 250 m2, facility is in operation since September 2015.
2016, by Chinese construction company Winsun. The Under the pressure of the pump, the concrete is forced
building was printed using a 120 × 40 × 20 feet 3D towards the printer head (Figure 5), an element consisting
printer (approximately 36.6 × 12.2 × 6.1 m), featuring of several parts allowing the concrete to be printed at the
an automated robotic arm (Cnet.com 2016a, Mediaof- desired location, at the desired speed, and under the
fice.ae 2016). desired angle. The end part of the printer head is the
. Interior of a hotel Suite measuring 12.5 × 10.5 × 4 m, in nozzle, a hollow steel element with a designated section
the Philippines, completed 20 September 2015, by from which the concrete filament leaves the printer
Total Kustom (Totalkustom.com 2016a). (Figure 6) and is deposited on the print surface.
. Five-storey apartment building in Suzhou, China, com- Several nozzle openings have been tried. Initially, a
pleted in January 2015 by Winsun (Cnet.com 2016b). round Ø 25 mm (491 mm2) opening was used. The resul-
. Also in Suzhou, China, a 1100 m2 villa, by Winsun, tant round filament, however, was difficult to stack. Then
completed early 2015. a square 25 × 25 mm (625 mm2) section was used. This
. Children’s Castle, Minnesota, USA, completed August increases buildability, but also requires the printer head
2014, by Total Kustom (Totalkustom.com 2016b). movement to be programmed such that the orientation
. Series of 10 houses, in Suzhou, China, by Winsun, of the nozzle always remains tangent to the tool path
2014. Printed with a massive 150 × 10 × 6.6 m printer (Figure 7). Otherwise, twisting of the filament will occur
(Wu et al. 2016). (Figure 8) – although this can also be accepted as a
natural property of printed concrete. Currently, a 40 ×
10 mm (400 mm2) opening is used.
Like the nozzle opening, determining a workable
2.2. 3D concrete printing
default print head speed and pump frequency (and
The current 3DCP facility at the Eindhoven University of resultant pump pressure) setting was the result of a par-
Technology (TU/e) adopts the Contour Crafting approach ameter sensitivity test programme. Obviously, these
(NOS 2015, Wolfs and Salet 2015, Wolfs et al. 2015, Salet three parameters are closely interrelated, and highly
and Wolfs 2016). (see Figure 4). Concrete is mixed with dependent on the concrete viscosity as well (which is,
water and pumped into a hose by a mixer-pump in turn, a function of the concrete mix composition and
located on the side of the set-up. The hose is connected water/cement ratio). At the moment, a default linear
to the printer head situated at the end of the vertical arm print speed of 100 mm/s (0.1 m/s) is maintained and a
of a motion-controlled 4 degree-of-freedom (DOF) pump pressure of 1–3 MPa (10–30 bar). In corners the
VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL PROTOTYPING 213
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Figure 4. 3DCP facility at the TU Eindhoven, with some examples of printed objects.
Table 1. Gantry robot motion parameters. the print head is equal to the nozzle opening width
DOF vmax amax bopening. This results in a relatively predictable printed
Translate x-axis 1.8 m/s 1.0 m/s2 filament of which the section is practically equal to the
Translate y-axis 1.8 m/s 1.0 m/s2 nozzle opening. The printed result can be influenced
Translate z-axis 1.8 m/s 2.0 m/s2
Rotate z-axis 3.0 rad/s 6.0 rad/s2 by pressing the print head into the printed product,
that is, hprinthead < bopening (Section 3.2.5).
For the research, a custom concrete mix was devel-
speed and frequency are reduced, depending on curve
oped by SG Weber Beamix. The mortar is comprised of:
radius.
The height of the print head above the print surface
. Portland cement (CEM I 52,5 R),
has considerable influence on the geometry and proper-
. siliceous aggregate with an optimised particle size dis-
ties of the printed product. Again, a default setting has
tribution and a maximum particle size of 1 mm,
been found by running a parameter sensitivity test pro-
gramme. The height hprinthead of the flat underside of
Figure 7. To avoid twisting of the filament, the nozzle should remain tangent to the tool path.
. limestone filler and specific additives for ease of There were several reasons for selecting these proper-
pumping, ties. The no-slump character allows an easily understand-
. rheology modifiers for obtaining thixotropic behav- able relation between print path, nozzle opening, and
iour of the fresh mortar, and printed geometry. Hence, it also allows geometrical pre-
. a small amount of polypropylene fibres for reducing cision and building of layers on top of one another. The
crack formation due to early drying. long setting time keeps the surface chemically active to
form interfaces between layers of which behaviour is
Performance of the mortar with regard to strength devel- close to the bulk material, without great dependency
opment and speed of strength development can be of the time interval between subsequent layers. Further-
easily adjusted by adding accelerators and/or by chan- more, it is forgiving to the system as it does not clog up
ging the ratio Portland cement/limestone filler. The cur- elements when disruptions occur for whatever reason.
rently applied mortar attains a 28-day compressive In the TU/e 3DCP research, it has been a key assump-
strength of in the order of magnitude of 30 N/mm2, tion that there is a strong interdependency between
and 28-day flexural tensile strength of around 5 N/mm2. design, material, print process, and product. Further-
more, it was suggested (Wolfs 2015), in order to properly
control the 3DCP as a manufacturing method, that para-
metric associative modelling is required to quantify these
dependencies and to adjust, for example, print process
parameters to the printing of specific designs to obtain
consistent quality and properties of the printed
product. The selected concrete mix is particularly suit-
able to test this assumption (see further discussion in
Section 4).
However, during the experiments a number of draw-
backs to the currently used mix were also encountered.
An important consequence of the selected concrete
properties is that the concrete is in its pre-setting state
(often referred to as ‘green’ or ‘dormant’) for the duration
Figure 8. Twisting of filament. of a print session. As a result, the buildability of layers is
VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL PROTOTYPING 215
limited, as it depends on the relatively low stiffness and Little is known in detail about the materials being
(to a lesser extent) strength of the printed ‘green’ fila- applied by the various operators. The FDM methods
ment. Another observation that has been made is that likely all operate with high cement ratio, fine aggregate
the filament consistency during a print session can mixes – quite different from traditional concrete. The
change. The filament then temporarily suffers from cav- printing requires early form stability. This can be
ities. This is possibly partly caused by the interstitial achieved through a combination of low slump and fast
zone between the hose internal surface and plug flow setting, where one complements the other: the faster
occurring in the middle, as described, for example, by the setting, the more slump can be allowed, or vice
Öcel and Yücel (2013), were shear stresses induce segre- versa. In Section 2.2, some consequences of the setting
gation and other irregular effects. Material from this zone time/slump proportion have been discussed.
may enter the flow irregularly. Irregular consistencies Lim et al. (2012) and Le et al. (2011) provided details
occurring already in the mix reservoir (before the on the material mix used by the Concrete Printing
pump) may also be a cause. The no-slump character of research group of Loughborough University. It consisted
the mix does not allow such cavities to be filled again of 54% sand, 36% reactive cementitious compounds, and
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by the flowing concrete. It is noted from video footage 10% water by mass (Lim et al. 2012). Le et al. (2011)
available from other AMoC projects, often a fast-setting mention that the binder material is a mix of CEM I
mix with higher slump is used (although such data are cement, fly-ash, and undensified silica fume. A retarder
not generally published). This results in better buildabil- is added, and an accelerator has been experimented
ity due to higher stiffness of previously deposited layers, with. The mix contains ‘12/0.18 mm length/diameter
more consistent quality due to self-filling of cavities, and polypropylene micro fibres to reduce shrinkage and
possibly better interface quality due to better filling of deformation in the plastic state’.
contact surfaces. The 1:1 relation between nozzle For the 2014 housed 3D printed by Winsun, reportedly
section and printed geometry on the one hand, and high-grade cement and glass fibre were used (Wu et al.
process forgiveness, on the other hand, are lost. Never- 2016). Pictures of the project, however, seem to
theless, a reconsideration of the appropriate material suggest glass fibre is not used as additive to the mix,
mix is planned for. but rather as a separate mesh in between printed
layers. Liang and Liang (2014) suggest to use a high per-
centage of waste and recycled materials in future prints,
2.3. Comparison of AMoC operators
to obtain cheap but decent housing, for which there is an
A full analysis of the print processes adopted around the enormous need in China and fast construction is thus
globe is not possible, as generally, due to competition also important. It is, however, questionable how that
considerations, crucial details are not publicly shared. target relates to the use of high-grade cement.
For many of the showcase projects mentioned in the pre- It is claimed (3dprint.com 2016b) HuaShang Tengda
vious section it is, for example, not known exactly what has used ordinary C30 class concrete to print its two-
parts have been printed, what material compositions storey house. However, considering slump behaviour
have been used, how the equipment operates, and and particle size in relation to printer geometry, this is
how structural safety and the main load bearing have improbable. It would, however, make the technology
been arranged. Nevertheless, some global comparisons credible as low-cost construction alternative.
can be made on a number of distinctive parameters. Although often not reported explicitly, images
With the exception of D-shape, all AMoC operators suggest that most concrete printers apply nozzle
adopt the contour crafting approach of stacking layers section sizes of 1 to several centimetres for length and
of filament. Geometry and structure characteristics of width. Total Kustom operates with a default nozzle
the 3DCP method, which belongs to this family, are dis- opening of 30 × 10 mm (Totalkustom 2016b). This is
cussed in Section 3. similar to the 40 × 10 mm nozzle applied by the TU/e.
Gantry robots with 3 or 4 DOF, and articulated robots The Concrete Printer of Loughborough University uses
with 6 or more DOF are most commonly used. The smaller, circular nozzles of Ø 6–20 mm, resulting in a
former particularly for large projects, the latter generally layer thickness of 6–25 mm (Lim et al. 2012), whereas
for somewhat smaller objects. The group of minirobots the Contour Crafting reports a layer thickness of
operated by the IAAC is quite unique. The D-shape 13 mm resulting from a Ø 15 mm nozzle (Hwang and
method requires a gantry-style setup but a different Khoshnevis 2004).
type of printer head depositing layers of powder material Most AMoC facilities seem to operate in the scale of
and subsequently binder of the full width of the set-up, up to 10 m lengths, and around 3 m height. The 150 ×
rather than filament on a singular location. 10 × 6.6 m polymer printer erected for printing a series
216 F. BOS ET AL.
Figure 9. In non-concrete 3D printing, the layers beneath the layer being printed are in an equal set condition. In concrete-based methods such as 3DCP, those layers are all in a different
that larger parts have been printed, but no data have
been published on that aspect. Facilities operating
smaller nozzles generally also print smaller objects.
Figure 10. One of the submitted designs (a staircase, by BiermanHenket Architects, (a) 3D printed scale model) for a 2015 design chal-
lenge for architects on the 3D printing of concrete, and the (b) printed part of the railing. The railing pattern had to be adjusted, and a
bespoke curved print surface had to be produced to obtain the design intent.
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radius) in the tool path. A pixelised approach based on a 3.1. Tool path
x,y,z space divided in equal in all directions is inappropri-
The guiding principle in the generation of 3DCP geome-
ate. When additives, such as fibres, are introduced, the
tries is the tool path the printer head follows during
directional dependency increases even further.
printing. Generally, modern gantry and articulated
Finally, it may be observed that for many 3D print
robots can follow practically any thinkable tool path
techniques, the movements and rotations in x,y-plane
through 3D space, whether they are defined by Eucli-
are made by the printer head, while movements in z-
dean geometrical shapes or more complex definitions
direction are made by the print surface. In comparison
such as splines.
to the other mentioned differences, however, this
Hence, this also allows printing on any non-planar
seems only a minor one.
surface. This approach, that opens new avenues in the
geometrical possibilities of contour crafting, has been
explored by the TU/e for the previously mentioned
3. Geometry and structure characteristics
design workshop and is currently subject of further
of 3DCP
research (4tu.nl 2016). However, for clarity, the rest of
Although 3D printing seems to imply that any Computer this section assumes printing on a flat plane. Most con-
Aided Design (CAD) geometry can be produced indepen- siderations will apply to printing on non-planar surfaces
dent of process planning, this is far from true for FDM- as well, although their implementation may be more
based AMoC, such as 3DCP. The method is limited by complex. In literature on AMoC, no standard has been
rather specific geometrical possibilities. Furthermore, the set on the designation of the coordinate system. Le
printed product properties both in green and set state et al. (2011) introduce directions I, II, and III, where I is par-
depend highly on process parameters. This latter issue is allel to the printer head direction, II is parallel to the per-
discussed in Section 4. This section deals with the geo- pendicular of the top printed surface (since this is a
metrical and structure characteristics of 3DCP. The horizontal plane, this amounts to being parallel to the
purpose of explicitly dealing with this issue is to open vertical), and III is parallel to perpendicular on the
the road to the creation of print job files that can be auto- printed side surface. Here, however, it is suggested to
matically generated from CAD geometries, without the use a slightly different designation which we consider
interference of a production and product specialist, that better in line with 3D drawing conventions, namely u,
is, much as a print file is currently generated from a text- v, and w (see Figure 7). It is proposed to appropriate u
processing application to print an ordinary document on for the direction of the tool path (positive in the direction
paper. In the current state of affairs, this is not yet possible. of movement; u is thus similar to direction I), v for the
Projects in which AMoC has been applied have been direction perpendicular to u in the print plane, making
designed with the particularities of the production the u,v-plane the plane in which is printed (v is than
method as a guiding principle. In 2015, a design workshop similar to direction III), and w for the direction perpen-
for architects presented at the Bouwbeurs 2016 Trade Fair, dicular to the print plane (similar to direction II). The des-
in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, yielded results of which ignations x, y, and z should be reserved for global
parts could only be printed after considerable redesign coordinates.
efforts by the TU/e 3DCP production team (Figure 10(a) Currently under development at the TU/e is an adap-
and (b)). tation to the printer head allowing interruption of the
218 F. BOS ET AL.
flow of filament, so that printing can stop at one place, should be maintained, the value of which, however, is
and continue at another after movement of the printer highly dependent on the individual 3DCP parameters,
head. Several AMoC facilities around the world are including the filament section itself (a broad filament
already capable of this. results in a larger deposition difference than a narrow
one).
3.2. Geometry
3.2.3. Vertical stacking of filament
3.2.1. Tool path and single filament The basic method of creating 3D objects through
The movement of the printer head and continuous flow contour crafting is the vertical stacking of layers of fila-
of concrete result in the deposition of a linear filament. ment. To describe the extent to which layers can be
The section dimensions of this single filament depend stacked, Lim et al. (2012) introduced the term ‘buildabil-
on a number of parameters, such as speed of concrete ity’. A simple straight stacking is nevertheless compli-
flow and printer head speed, nozzle section, slump and cated by the slump, setting time, and flow behaviour
setting characteristics of the concrete, and inclination of the concrete. As explained in Section 2.4 (Figure 9),
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of the print surface. In the default settings at the TU/e, a number of layers beneath a current printed layer n
the single filament section is almost equal to the has not yet solidified. Each of these layers has a different
nozzle section. stiffness E(t) and strength f(t), both functions of their
The single filament section, with in principle endless age t. In combination with imperfections that may
length and which can be adjusted as a function of the occur due to printer head accuracy, filament inconsisten-
mentioned parameters as well as a number of print strat- cies, or the dynamic deposition of filament, this may lead
egies discussed below, is the basic building block for to premature collapse of the structure through instability
3DCP geometries. Obviously, the smaller the filament during printing. In other words, the stacking is predomi-
section, the more detailed a printed object can nantly governed by the effective stiffness of the com-
become, generally at the price of the overall print speed. bined layers, rather than by their strength. The lower
limit of buildability is determined by considering the
3.2.2. Cornering in the u,v-plane (print surface) phenomenon in 2D in the v,w-plane. However, actual
When deviating from printing a straight line, that is, stability is determined by the material properties as
introducing corners, a difference in deposition rate well as the actual 3D geometry, which can hugely
arises between the inside of the filament (near the improve over the 2D situation, for example, when a cor-
corner centre) and the outside, resulting in a difference rugated geometry is applied.
in material deposition. If this difference becomes too Fully set layers, on the other hand, may be considered
big, this may result in tearing of the outer edge of the to be sufficiently stiff and strong to allow stacking well
filament and skewing of the section due to the depo- beyond practical size boundaries of the printers.
sition difference. Hence, a minimum radius of curvature Several AMoC operators, such as CyBe in the
Figure 13. Interfaces and stacking: (a) interfaces in the u,v- and u,w-plane, common in high-resolution AMoC, (b) interfaces in the u,v-
plane, common in other AMoC, (c) interfaces in the u,v-plane, with layers pressed together to obtain higher compaction and improved
interface adhesion, and (d) interface in the u,w-plane, with filament pressed together.
each other. When square or rectangular filament is used, in three orientations: in the u,v-plane (generally horizon-
or filament with sufficient flow capacity, this can result in tal, in the u,w-plane (vertical), and in the v,w-plane
solid sections. However, as, reported by Le et al. (2011), (Figure 13). However, due to the linear toolpath in u-
circular filament with insufficient flow can cause air cav- direction, interfaces in the v,w-plane are rare to non-
ities in between filaments next to each other. existent in a typical 3DCP structure. U,w-plane interface
surfaces are also uncommon in most examples, as the
3.2.5. Pressing layers larger printed projects generally make use of vertical
At the TU/e, a default approach is maintained that the stacking of a single column of filament.
height of the print head above the print surface is Anisotropy may occur both in the bulk material and as
equal to the nozzle section width. This results in a a consequence of interface properties of the different
smooth deposition of the print filament, and avoids interfaces. It is likely the structural properties of the inter-
(pressure) interaction between the filament and the faces will govern the overall structural performance, with
print head. For researching the dependencies between the bulk material properties the upper limit of what per-
printed product and process and material parameters, formance could theoretically be achieved. Due to the
eliminating this additional, difficulty quantifiable high number of interfaces, it seems appropriate to
parameter.
However, pressing the printer head slightly into the
filament (i.e. hprinter head < bnozzle section) can have
several effects that positively influence the (structural)
properties of the printed product (see Figure 13(c)).
The pressure generated in the green printed product
under the printer head should improve compaction as
well as interface adhesion.
Horizontally layers can also be pressed into each other
(Figure 13(d)). This should generate similar favourable
effects on compaction and interface adhesion.
Table 2. Reaction conditions and print process parameters. specimens. Thus, the directional difference found was
Condition Process parameters not a directional dependency of either the bulk material
Concrete age (time between - The mixing process is not a continuous or the interface, but rather a directional difference
mixing and printing) steady process, but rather a step-wise
process in which the mixer fills a reservoir
caused by the fact that in one direction the interface
above the pump and mixes additional was loaded in flexural bending perpendicular to the
material once the reservoir level has fallen interface surface, whereas in the other two directions
under a certain threshold. Thus the age of
the concrete in the system varies the bulk material was loaded in flexural bending and
- Pressure in the system (varies, see below) the interfaces were loaded in shear or were actually
- Non-continuous printing. Currently, the
printer lays continuous filament. However, not loaded. Ongoing research in this area at the TU/e
in order to achieve reasonable versatility, has not yet produced conclusive results.
it is imperative the filament stream can be
stopped and restarted, so that a printed
line can be terminated and continued at
another location. Since this introduces a 4. Experimental research on 3DCP
waiting time in the system, this will
influence the age of the filament upon It is imperative to recognise that in 3D printing, design,
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leaving the nozzle head material, process, and product are all strongly interde-
- Stagnation: in ordinary concrete
construction setting is delayed by pendent (Figure 14). In 3DCP, this interdependency is
continuous mixing. However, this not even more pronounced for two reasons. Firstly, the
possible in the current 3DCP system
slow setting reaction in the printed concrete results
Mix temperature - Environmental conditions and start strong interaction with the applied print parameters
temperature of the system and strategy such as print speed, pump pressure, fila-
- Friction in the system, which depends on a
range of sub-parameters such as the ment stacking, etc. Secondly, concrete of itself is not a
pump pressure, section dimensions of single fixed material, but can actually have a wide
subsequent parts, hose length, and curves
and angles in the system. Using a low-
range of compositions that may be more or less suitable
slump concrete increases the sensitivity to in relation to the printing process and the required end
this aspect product performance properties. Thus, a print strategy
- Heat conductivity of the system
- Setting reaction itself (exothermal) cannot be chosen independently from design, material,
or (desired) end product considerations. The design of
Mix internal pressure - Parameters similar to friction: pump a product influences the green and end product proper-
pressure, section dimensions of
subsequent parts, hose length, and curves ties, or the process and material parameters have to be
and angles in the system. The no-slump adjusted to avoid this. Table 2 provides an exploration
concrete requires a particularly high
pump pressure to move through the of some expected dependencies between setting reac-
system tion conditions and print process parameters (thus, still
a limited part of all dependencies).
Density of printed material - Compaction
- Pressure (see above)
To complicate matters, the quality of green and set
- Linear nozzle speed concrete not only depends on the chemical reaction,
but also significantly on the physical compaction (densi-
Material mix - Many variants possible fication). In ordinary concrete applications, compaction is
achieved either through post-cast vibration, or by the
Water/cement ratio - Machine setting in mixer-pump
use of (low viscous) self-compacting concrete. In 3DCP,
neither is possible. No-slump and self-compaction are
contradictory aims that can only partially be fulfilled sim-
ultaneously (Hoornahad 2014). A level of slump has to be
analyse the interface properties to assess the structural accepted in order to obtain significant compaction, or (i)
performance of a printed product, and assume the bulk the concrete mix has to be redesigned to obviate the
material properties will not be governing. need for post-printing compaction, or (ii) the print
The extent of anisotropy both in the bulk material and system may be redesigned to compact the concrete
in the interfaces is yet unknown. In the research pre- under pressure before printing.
sented by Le et al. (2011) a direction dependency was Of course, testing of the green and set properties of
found, with failure strength differences in flexural the printed concrete produced under different con-
bending of sample beams in the order of 10–15%. In ditions forms the basis under the mapping of parameter
that study, bulk material and interface were not treated relations. This is complicated by the fact that suitable and
separately, but the presence of interfaces was rather generally accepted test methods have to be developed
treated as a cause for anisotropy in the globally assessed as well. Particularly for concrete in the pre-set state,
222 F. BOS ET AL.
this is a challenge. In the literature, two fundamentally determines which tests can be performed and thus
different approaches to characterising the pre-set con- which data can be retrieved to formulate a material
crete behaviour can be found. model: the uni-axial compression tests are not possible
The contour crafting research group has applied on low viscous pre-set concrete, whereas applying the
uni-axial plate stacking tests, and subsequently, a viscometer test to obtain rheological parameters does
more controlled method to apply uni-axial loads on not work with high viscous pre-set concrete as it
fresh concrete cylinders was presented by Di Carlo results in so-called ‘plug’. The correlation between both
et al. (2013). The recorded Poisson ratios and internal approaches should be subject of research to determine
friction angles were used to develop a Drucker– the most appropriate approach. In any case, it should
Prager material model, thus assuming the pre-set con- be considered that for buildability actually the stiffness
crete to be a solid material with plastic failure behav- of the printed filament is of paramount importance,
iour. It is, however, questionable whether this uni- even before failure and plasticity occurs (either as solid
axial test provides sufficient information on the or as fluid). Thus, development of test methods should
failure behaviour in different 3D stress states, as it aim at obtaining accurate stress–strain relations for the
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5.1. Structural safety report various strain softening curves, indicating that
GFRC could have structural applications albeit perhaps
The key question is whether a generic strategy can be
not as part of the main load bearing structure.
developed to obtain sufficient robustness and ductility
Two main challenges are connected to the application
for structural applications. In common structural con-
of fibre reinforcement in 3DCP. First is the actual even
crete, reinforcement is applied before the concrete
application of 1–3 VOL% fibres into the concrete which
casting to obtain composite structural elements with
could lead to clogging, segregation, and non-uniform
ductility. This approach is not an obvious standard for
distributions (both in quantity per volume and in direc-
AMoC. The projects discussed in Section 2 apply a
tion). The second is ensuring effectiveness of fibres
variety of alternatives. The concrete bench presented in
across interface boundaries. Obviously, improvement of
Lim et al. (2012) has hollow sections over the height of
the bulk material properties makes little sense if the gov-
the object. Post-tensioning prestress bars are fed
erning interface properties are not equally improved.
through them after printing. This strategy is also com-
monly applied in a variety of concrete structures and
introduces stiffness and tensile capacity, but not necess-
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these costs can be reduced to 0. Against the back- printer head passes by each location in the complete
ground of the enormous need for improved housing structure once makes this theoretically feasible. That
in China, it is logical that Chinese construction compa- would allow a radically new and exciting approach to
nies like Winsun and HuaShang Tengda look like the design of concrete to improve our buildings.
taking this direction.
Alternatively, a choice could be made for high-end
performance of the printed product. This implies devel- 6. Conclusion
opment of high-performance printable concretes, AMoC was introduced as a promising family of methods to
methods to print structurally optimised shapes, and the address challenges facing concrete construction today, as
overall aiming at the highest possible quality. Full custo- well as to open up new avenues of design possibilities.
misability both of shape and printed material per Different variants have been analysed and compared, and
location (explained further below) should be developed. the 3DCP method applied by the Eindhoven University
This requires complex features in the machinery as well has been extensively introduced. Geometrical and struc-
as the software and modelling controlling them. tural characteristics, caused by the composition from
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Related to this issue is the expected visibility of the linear continuous filament, have been introduced. Issues
printed concrete. A product optimised on performance regarding experimental research have been discussed.
would be expected in view, whereas for a construction Finally, research and development areas have been ident-
optimised printed concrete, additional cladding could ified to allow application in practice and an outlook has
also be suitable. The Winsun projects generally make been given into possible evolutions of these technologies.
use of cladding, whereas the HuaShang Tengda house
shows how it was made. The Contour Crafting research
group developed elaborate automated trowelling Disclosure statement
devices on a printer to obtain a smooth, presentable No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
surface finish directly from printing (Kwon 2002). Again,
different approaches are likely to evolve.
The other choice, (b) Off-site versus on-site, is self- Funding
explanatory. The technique may be developed as an The TU/e research program on 3DCP is co-funded by a partner
alternative to the concrete mixers and application appar- group of enterprises and associations, that on the date of
atus we see on construction sites nowadays, or as a next writing consisted of (alphabetical order) Ballast Nedam, BAM
Infraconsult bv, Bekaert, Concrete Valley, CRH, Cybe, Saint-
step in the prefab industry where it can work together
Gobain Weber Beamix, SGS Intron, SKKG, Van Wijnen, Verhoe-
with other robots that can add other features to pro- ven Timmerfabriek, and Witteveen+Bos. Their support is grate-
ducts, such as door and window frames. The Winsun pro- fully acknowledged.
jects have been printed in the factory. Total Kustom, on
the other hand, printed the hotel suite interior on-site
and seems intent on pursuing this strategy (Totalkus- References
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