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Development of a mini 3D printer for concrete custom structures

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Development of a mini 3D printer for concrete custom structures

Hanane Es-sebyty 1, Bouchra Abbi 1, Elena Ferretti 2 and Mohammed Igouzal 1,*

1
Laboratory of Electronic Systems, Information Processing, Mechanics and Energetics Department of
Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Tofail University, 14000 Kenitra, Morocco.
2
Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering DICAM, Alma Mater
Studiorum Università di Bologna 40136 Bologna, Italy
* Corresponding author: mohammed.igouzal@uit.ac.ma ; Tel. 212673540318

Abstract:

Additive Manufacturing (AM) with concrete, also known as 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP), is an
emerging technology in the construction industry. Automating the placement of concrete materials
may improve construction efficiency by eliminating the need to erect formwork, improve
infrastructure durability by providing precise control of concrete formulations, and improve
construction safety by removing humans from hazardous working environments. In this work, we
proceed to sizing, conception and assembly of a mini concrete 3d printer in a laboratory scale. The
rheological of the mixture used is studied in order to find an optimal composition that pass the tests
pumpability, extrudability, workability and buildability. Materiel used for printing is a mixture of
water, sand, concrete and rice husk.
Keywords: 3D concrete printing, 3DCP
1-Introduction
In recent years the role of additive manufacturing in the construction industry has become
increasingly important. In particular, concrete 3D printers have been continuously gaining popularity
among architects and construction firms. Two kinds of 3DCP are commonly used; Gantry and
Robotic (figure 1).

(a) (b)

Figure 1: (a) Gantry (crane-like) concrete 3D printers (b) Robotic concrete 3D printers

The Gantry uses a gantry-style overhead structure that supports the printer. This type of
concrete 3D printer typically operates on a cartesian coordination system consisting of x, y and z axes.
These axes are defined by the rails and beams of the supporting structure. The x-axis corresponds to
the length of the rails that move the printer forwards and backwards, while the y-axis corresponds to
the length of the rail carrying the printhead and connecting the pillars, which in turn are defined by the
z-axis and move up and down.
 The typical 3D concrete printing (3DCP) process for the construction industry is shown in Fig.
2. The whole 3D printing process can be described in two ways. Firstly, the software segment (left
side of Fig. 2) and secondly, hardware segment (right side of Fig. 2). At first, a 3D software such as
AutoCAD or Solid Works is used to model the objects, then it is exported to another software for
slicing (define the layer dimension). Thereafter, a program file in the form of G-code is generated for
the whole object for the printer to read and perform the job as shown in Fig. 2. In the hardware
segment, an integrated printer (either gantry or robotic) with material delivery system that is connected
with a pump and hose pipe are required to deliver the material to the nozzle orifice/head, which is
connected at the end part of the hosepipe to deposit the material in layer by layer.

Figure 2: The process of 3D printing for construction industry [3]

2-Materials and Methods
a- Conception and fabrication of the printer
In this study, a 3D concrete printer is realized as shown in figure 3. Different printer’s part were
designed by a CAO software. The 3D printer contains six long bars profile 20cm x 20cm and six small
bars to support the belt in X, Y and Z axes. Maximum printable dimension is 60x50x80 cm (fig. 3). At
horizontal bars there are two rails (in left and in right side) to facilitate the movement of the bearings,
the straps are fixed by the small bars in the horizontal and Vertical parts. The pumping is a centrifugal
pump system that deliver material to the extrusion device. The extrusion system has a diameter of
5mm, and moves NEMA stepper motor. In the X axe we installed four bearings in the left and in the
right help to the slippage of the machine.

Figure 3: Photo of the 3D concrete printer

A software program was developed in an ARDUINO card to control the movement which is
similar to those used in mechanical machining devices with computerized numerical control (CNC)
 programs. When the program accepts a G-code for the movement control, the G-code gives an order to
machine tools to control the nozzle motion. The necessary variables for control are movement speed,
nozzle coordinates and nozzle speed can be adjusted on the Graphic User Interface panel of the
program.

b-Preparations of the mixture formulate

The main challenge associated with developing printable material is to have thixotropic property,
which provides high yield strength and low viscosity behavior. Thixotropy is defined as a decrease in
viscosity when shear is applied, followed by a gradual recovery when shear is removed in the fresh
material [7,8]. Thixotropic material can be smoothly extruded out from an orifice and after extrusion;
it retains its shape which is highly needed in 3D printing process[6]. For ensuring little or no
deformation in the bead layers, an almost zero slump but pumpable concrete is required. However, the
production of low slump concrete needs special attention to the granulometric properties of the
aggregates. For any type of flow-able material, a good understanding of rheology helps in optimizing
the conditions for processing, and in producing good quality products[5]. In our study, materiel used
for printing is a mixture of sand, concrete and rice husk (table 1). To fix the viscosity of the mixture
many parameters was adjusted like water ratio.

Table 1: Composition and proprieties of different mixtures

mixture Sand (g) Concrete (kg) Water (ml) Viscosity KPa.s

number
1 558 832 (g) 440 0.115
2 1500 2.5 1320 0.05
3 608 1 .42 560 0.07
4 608 1.42 490 1.13

c- Printing tests
After development of the 3D printer for concrete structures, its printing capability and function were
tested focusing on the layering and dispensing of the cementitious materials. Experimental trials were
performed by printing a longitudinal wall design of 30 cm. An important aspect of the test was to find
out material properties and mechanical control by examining the layering condition of cementitious
materials and its hardening process (figure 4 ).

Figure 4: The developed 3D concrete printer at work.

 In the experiments, the mixture of concrete and water was used to find the optimum value of W/C
ratio and efficient viscosity for the layering and dispensing of the cementitious materials. Then,
concrete is added at different proportions according to table 1. It was found that mixture number 2 is
the efficient mixture. After finding the suitable mixture, rice husk fibers were included in the mix to
improve buildability of the printing. Different ratio of rice husk fibers were tested to find the optimal
mix for the printing of cementitious material

Conclusion
This research developed a mini 3D printer for concrete structures at lab scale size, and its functionality
was tested to find optimal material properties for the 3D printer.
A specified water-concrete-sand mixture was found to be optimal properties of the materials for
extracting and layering the cementitious materials from the 3D printer by the laboratory testing.
The laboratory testing verified that adding rice husk fibers increased the quality of the printing by
preventing shrinkage cracking.
Future development in our 3D concrete printer must focus on preventing collapse of printed mixture
by studding rheology of the product.

References

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doi:10.3390/jcs3030088.
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Shredding as a Means of Increasing the Long-Term Mechanical Properties of Earthen Mixtures for
3D Printing. Materials, submitted.
3- Es-Sebyty, H, Igouzal, M. and Ferretti, E. Stability study of a 3D printed structure, the case of GIA
WASP house in Italy, Archiv. Civ. Mech. Eng, Accepted.
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