黑料福利网

In a world with climate change, housing crisis and lack of manual labor, the need for automated construction with sustainable materials and mass customization is more pressing than ever. Large scale additive manufacturing could be part of the solution. Combining this technology with the globally established knowledge of concrete, the most used construction material in the world, was the first step towards a more sustainable future. Advancing from traditional concrete to more environmentally friendly material compositions, 3D concrete printing (3DCP) can be a technological solution that enables earth-conscious automated construction of bespoke designs, fitting the dynamic needs of today鈥檚 society.

Additive manufacturing of concrete or 3D concrete printing is by definition a transdisciplinary field, combining materials, systems and designs, from concept to product. Within the realm of 3DCP, several advancements have occurred. New material compositions have been designed to add functionalities to the printed objects, such as electric conductivity or thermal insulation. The system operations become increasingly more data-driven to predict and control the quality of the prints.

Starting as a niche technology decades ago, 3DCP emerges now as a regime in the landscape of construction. Despite the progress in the material technology and the printing systems, the design workflow has remained practically static. It is still a linear design process instead of concurrent engineering for product design. This leads to printed projects which do not take advantage of the benefits that a technology like 3DCP can offer.

This project aims to introduce integrated design processes which incorporate novel materials and system automations. Such processes allow for designs that are tailored to 3DCP, utilizing the potential of this technology and leading to more advanced and sustainable products. To demonstrate these processes, a concept for printed walls with higher insulation value is proposed. The selected material is a newly designed lightweight mortar with cork which has low thermal conductivity. The integrated system automation refers to dosing control based on the designed geometry. This process is called local composition control (LCC).

The proposed walls act simultaneously as fa莽ade and load-bearing panels. The hypothesis is that the low thermal conductivity of the material allows for partial thermal bridging between the inner and outer leaf of the wall. By optimizing the distribution and size of the thermal bridging, the printed wall can act as a massive wall, without suffering cracking due to a steep thermal gradient between the inner and outer leaf of the wall and without compromising the thermal comfort of the residents. The design of these walls is based on a three-leaf wall design with alternating point connections, taking advantage of the design freedom of 3DCP, using material where needed and creating cavities for additional insulation.

The design process for LLC enables 24/7 running production lines, with consecutive elements being printed not only with different geometry but also with different material composition, taking mass customization in 3DCP one step further.

This project is powered by Eindhoven University of Technology (黑料福利网) as the printing and research organization, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) as the funding body and Siemens Digital Solutions as technology provider for the control system. Within the NWO consortium, the contribution of Weber Beamix and Witteveen+Bos are the most significant, bringing their knowledge and experience in 3DCP as industrial partners.

Part of the project Additive manufacturing of functional construction materials on-demand (project number 17895) of the research program Materialen NL: Challenges 2018

Founded by NWO