Investigation of Cementitious Materials and Fibre Reinforced Mortar in 3D Printing
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2019
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At present, Three-Dimensional Printing (3DP) is one of the most promising developments in modern technology. This technology innovation has shown its potential in a wide range of applications, varying from medical to food industry and from aerospace engineering to household applications. Obviously, the building industry has aimed to adopt this technique to apply it on a larger scale. 3D concrete printing technology results in low cost and faster construction methods, which allows for greater freedom in both architectural design and construction techniques. Despite these clear benefits shown by a few pioneering companies and institutes in the world, the building industry is still far behind in the development of practical 3D printing machines. This is mainly attributed to the lack of fundamental research on the materials and structural behaviour of the to-be-printed objects. This research examines the two types of Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques for cementitious materials and fibre reinforced mortar. Mortar and Concrete are new materials in the field of additive manufacturing. Since these types of materials are hardened by chemical reactions, considerable attention needs to be applied to the workability in the AM process.
It should be emphasised that different manufacturing processes require suitable material processing modifications. This is highly applicable to the cementitious material, which has adaptability in handling, comprising ordinary mixing and cast-in-situ for the construction production; shotcrete spraying for stabilising soil in the mining industry; extrusion-based in precasting factories for the construction industry; and spinning procedures for concrete pipes. However, 3D printing for construction also faces the challenge of alteration of the mix design and the manufacturing procedure. This study shows the formulation of the cement mortar powder for a powder-based Three-Dimensional Printer. It shows the new approach of powder preparation and mix proportions for printing cement mortar. This investigation presents an extrusion-based printing technique, including (i) an outline of the required adjustments to mix ingredients and the mixing method; (ii) a machine to provide suitable rheology in the fresh state; (iii) design and fabrication of the nozzle; (iv) temporal considerations ensuring a satisfactory time-gap between interlayer bonds; and (v) mechanical strength results of the hardened printed mortar.
The innovative achievements are finding the water/cement ratio in the powder-based 3DP and optimising the slurry materials for extrusion-based printing. Using these techniques would be cost-effective, easy-to-apply and environmentally-friendly since it drastically reduces the need and use of different types of formworks.
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