B4 - Karan Sagar Sinha

For our term project we have chosen to do a research paper on 3D printing that focuses on printing 3D concrete building components. 3D printing is becoming popular in the construction industry day by day. It really fascinated us after Professor Mitchell showed us a video in which the 3D printer was printing concrete blocks in different shapes and sizes. We feel that 3D printing will become very efficient and cost effective. It will reduce the time taken for a building to be constructed as the building components could be prefabricated with provisions cut out for ducts and internal wiring. Structural components that are made via 3D printing, otherwise known as “concrete crafting,” use less material than the same components made using normal concrete forming techniques. Whereas curved concrete structures that are poured into forms are solid, those made via concrete crafting can be hollow, allowing space for essential building services right inside the structural elements of the building.

We are focusing on concrete as our material as we feel that concrete can be easily molded/printed in any shape and size and is easily customizable. This opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for architects everywhere. Much like the freeform design of The Bird’s Nest in Beijing, China, 3D printed architectural components are totally unfettered by typical design constraints. The ability to use curvilinear forms, rather than being cost and process limited to rectilinear forms, opens a whole new realm of design.

Modern Architecture is demanding new developments in construction manufacturing technology, a team at Loughborough University has been working on a 3D concrete printing project that could allow full scale building components to be 3D printed on-site to any design. This gives the architects a tremendous degree of design freedom. An example of such a design can be seen from the image shown below, as you can see that the possibilities are endless with concrete and 3D printing. The possibilities using concrete is endless.

The goal of our project is to do an extensive research on how concrete a valid option in building construction and how it has a potential to improve in the future.

The outline of our project is as follows –

• Abstract -
• Introduction -
• Introduce the project and its deliverables, History and evolution of 3D printing in construction industry.
• Technical aspects of 3D printing-
• Discuss process
• Concrete mix
• Assembly
• Current applications and future of 3-D printing.
• Scale of construction projects at present
• Complexity of projects
• Alternate materials
• Future
• Socioeconomic impact of 3D printing in the construction industry.
• Impact on economy
• Cost
• Effect on labor unions i.e. jobs creation or reduction?
• Conclusion

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20120316-a-second-generation-3d-concrete-printing-is-under-development.html

http://www.viatechnik.com/3d-printing-and-looming-changes-in-the-construction-industry/

Comments:

Allison – I found your topic quite interesting. I can imagine having a mechanism that senses changes and adapts accordingly. Our group was also thinking to do a similar project but then we felt that what all technology would we need in order to have such a mechanism. It really fascinates me on how this could actually be possible.

A.J Kuzniarowicz – We are also doing our research paper on 3D printing and we have a lot of topics in common. I totally agree with the points you’ve made throughout your post about how 3D printing would be cost effective and would also cause some social havoc with the labor unions. Also looking at your outline, under additives, I found it very fascinating and thought provoking that you could add certain components and materials to further enhance 3D printing.