3D Concrete Printing - from material design to extrusion

Annual Civil Engineering Workshop at Ecole Centrale de Lille

July, 2017
 3D Concrete Printing

3D Concrete Printing refers to the process used to synthesize a 3D model

in successive layers of material to create an object, e.g. a concrete wall

Robot-based 3D Printing Process: MATERIALS

CONCRETE MIXER

CONCRETE PUMP

ROBOT CONTROL

CONCRETE EXTRUSION

REINFORCEMENT

DESIGN
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 MATERIALS

Fresh concrete is the filament: Material challenges:

Similar materials to that of concrete Pumpability vs. Buildability
Max. particle size (up to 2.0 mm) Concrete rheology (fresh state)
Concrete admixtures

Annual Civil Engineering Workshop at Ecole Centrale de Lille (ACE Workshop 2017) Danish Technological Institute 3
 MATERIALS

Concrete properties and mix design

Stress

Test device - layer deformation measurements

10MPa
Hardening

Very-early
1MPa age properties
Setting

100kPa
Thixotropy
~10kPa
Yield stress

t = 0 t = few minutes Time (t)

Cement hydration
Concrete admixtures
Strength development
Drying shrinkage ...

Nothing we do not know... But now we need all of it at once and with high precision
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 MATERIALS

Buildability of fresh concrete (without the use of accelerators)

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 CONCRETE MIXER

Batch process: Continuous mixing:

Concrete composition is constant Concrete composition is adjustable
Fresh-state properties can be adjusted by Fresh and hardened-state properties can
adding admixtures while printing be adjusted while printing

Source: MTec

Mixing plant at DTIs Concrete Centre

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 CONCRETE MIXER

Feedback system in a continuous mixing production process:

Production phase Pumping phase Printing phase

Increase robustness of
the production process Stage 4
M Nozzle

Enable the production

Aggregates
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
Dry mix Wet mix Pump
of functionally-graded

Cement
M
concrete elements
M M M

Funtionally-graded concrete sample

Source: MIT

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 CONCRETE PUMP

Peristaltic concrete pump: Progressive cavity pump:

Pulsating extrusion (poor controllability) Controlled extrusion (rotor-stator)
Large equipment for initial tests Enables high-resolution printing
Low oozing (preditable material flow)
Suitable for high-viscosity materials

Source: PCM

Endless-piston principle (True positive displacement)

Source: PCM
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 CONCRETE PUMP

Progressive cavity pump

3D Printed prototype DTIs progressive cavity pump

Increase controlability and reliability of the printing process

Production phase Pumping phase Printing phase

Stage 4
M Nozzle
Aggregates

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Dry mix Wet mix Pump
Cement

M M M

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 CONCRETE EXTRUSION

Passive robot nozzle: Active robot nozzle:

The extrusion is controlled by a pump and The extrusion is controlled at the nozzle by
the robot nozzle works as a dispenser that a pump, enabling great precision and addi-
defines the shape of the printed layers. tion of admixtures during extrusion.

Source: Total Kustom

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 CONCRETE EXTRUSION

Nozzle experiments (3D Printed Nozzles)

Concrete buildability = f(properties at very-early age, e.g. yield stress)

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 3D Concrete Printing

MATERIALS VERY-EARLY AGE PROPERTIES

CONCRETE MIXER ROBUSTNESS

FEEDBACK SYSTEM
CONCRETE PUMP RELIABILITY

ROBOT CONTROL AWARENESS (SAFETY)

CONCRETE EXTRUSION ROBUSTNESS & PRECISION

REINFORCEMENT TRANSVERSAL REINFORCEMENT

TECHNICAL STANDARDS
DESIGN RETHINK DESIGN METHODS

3D CONCRETE PRINTING INTERDISCIPLINARITY

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 3D Concrete Printing

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 3DCP: Knowledge Network

3D Printet Byggeri on LinkedIn

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 Thank you for your attention!

Wilson Ricardo Leal da Silva

Consultant, Civil Engineer, Ph.D.
Reference to this presentation: Concrete Centre
Leal da Silva, W.R. (2017). 3D Concrete Printing - from Mobile +45 72 20 10 34
material design to extrusion. [Presentation Slides] Re- wrls@teknologisk.dk
trieved from Danish Technological Institute website:
https://www.dti.dk/projects/3d-printed-buildings/36993

Annual Civil Engineering Workshop at Ecole Centrale de Lille (ACE Workshop 2017) Danish Technological Institute