Development of 3D printable construction materials

• Main Author: Toh, Fen Hui
• Other Authors: Qian Shunzhi
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Civil engineering::Construction technology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/136729
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Additive manufacturing has widely encouraged in the world to promote higher productivities and efficiencies. One of such methods that was being explored currently is the additive manufacturing of concrete (AMoC). 3D Concrete printing (3DCP) is one of the newest techniques being introduced to replace conventional concreting methods. Although 3DCP has been getting an exponentially increasing attention nowadays, to be able to incorporate it into our daily practice still seems far-fetched. This comes from the fact that the construction industry is risk adverse and conservative in its practice, but it is also due to some technical, economic and social challenges that need to be overcome to unlock the possible opportunities from 3DCP in the building sector. A vision is therefore presented on 3DCP’s concrete materials, considering its potential environmental benefits. Different concrete mix combinations will be explored and were analysed. The two main concrete types that were analysed consisted of cement-based and geopolymers. This report surveyed the possible means in lowering the environmental impacts from concrete manufacturing using 3DCP. In the last section, conclusions and recommendations were drawn based from the various life cycle assessments with the different concrete mix being used.