Construction 3D Printing (c3Dp) or 3D construction Printing (3DCP) refers to various technologies that use
3D printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
as a core method to fabricate buildings or construction components. Alternative terms for this process include "additive construction." "3D Concrete" refers to concrete extrusion technologies whereas Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS), large-scale additive manufacturing (LSAM), or freeform construction (FC) refer to other sub-groups.
At construction scale, the main 3D-printing methods are
extrusion
Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex c ...
(
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
/
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
,
wax
Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low ...
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
s), powder bonding (polymer bond, reactive bond,
sintering
Clinker nodules produced by sintering
Sintering or frittage is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by pressure or heat without melting it to the point of liquefaction.
Sintering happens as part of a manufacturing ...
), and additive welding.
A number of different approaches have been demonstrated to date, which include on-site and off-site fabrication of buildings and construction components, using
industrial robots
An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes.
Typical applications of robots include welding, painting, assembly, disassembly, pick a ...
,
gantry
A gantry is an overhead bridge-like structure supporting equipment such as a crane, signals, or cameras.
Devices and structures
*Gantry (medical), cylindrical scanner assembly used for medical 3D-imaging or treatment
*Gantry (transport), an over ...
systems, and tethered autonomous vehicles. Demonstrations of construction 3D printing technologies have included fabrication of housing, construction components (cladding and structural panels and columns), bridges and civil infrastructure,
artificial reef
An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing.
Many re ...
s, follies, and sculptures.
History
Seeding technologies 1950–1995
Robotic bricklaying was conceptualized and explored in the 1950s and related technology development around automated construction began in the 1960s, with pumped concrete and isocyanate foams. Development of automated fabrication of entire buildings using slip forming techniques and robotic assembly of components, akin to 3D printing, were pioneered in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
to address the dangers of building high rise buildings by Shimizu and
Hitachi
() is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...
in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of these early approaches to on-site automation foundered because of the construction 'bubble', their inability to respond to novel architectures and the problems of feeding and preparing materials to the site in built up areas.
Early developments 1995–2000
Early construction 3D printing development and research have been under way since 1995. Two methods were invented, one by Joseph Pegna which was focused on a
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...
/cement forming technique which utilized steam to selectively bond the material in layers or solid parts, though this technique was never demonstrated.
The second technique,
Contour Crafting
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (in the Viterbi School of Engineering) that uses a computer-controlled crane or ...
by Behrohk Khoshnevis, initially began as a novel ceramic extrusion and shaping method, as an alternative to the emerging polymer and metal 3D printing techniques, and was patented in 1995. Khoshnevis realized that this technique could exceed these techniques where "current methods are limited to fabrication of part dimensions that are generally less than one meter in each dimension". Around 2000, Khoshnevis's team at USC Vertibi began to focus on construction scale 3D printing of cementitious and ceramic pastes, encompassing and exploring automated integration of modular reinforcement, built-in plumbing and electrical services, within one continuous build process. This technology has only been tested at lab scale to date and controversially and allegedly formed the basis for recent efforts in China.
First generation 2000–2010
In 2003, Rupert Soar secured funding and formed the freeform construction group at Loughborough University, UK, to explore the potential for up-scaling existing 3D printing techniques for construction applications. In 2005, the group secured funding to build a large-scale construction 3D printing machine using 'off the shelf' components (concrete pumping, spray concrete, gantry system) to explore how complex such components could be and realistically meet the demands for construction.
In 2005, Enrico Dini, Italy, patented the D-Shape technology, employing a massively scaled powder jetting/bonding technique over an area approximately 6m x 6m x 3m. This technique although originally developed with epoxy resin bonding system was later adapted to use inorganic bonding agents. This technology has been used commercially for a range of projects in construction and other sectors including for rtificial reefs
In 2008 3D Concrete Printing began at
Loughborough University
Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...
, UK, headed by Richard Buswell and colleagues to extend the groups prior research and look to commercial applications moving from a gantry based technology to an industrial robot.
Second generation 2010–present
Buswell's group succeeded in licensing that robotic technology to Skanska in 2014. On January 18, 2015, the company drew press coverage with its unveiling of two buildings that integrated 3D-printed components: a mansion-style villa and a five-story tower. In May 2016, a new office building opened in Dubai, a 250-square-meter space (2,700-square-foot), touted by Dubai's Museum of the Future as the world's first 3D-printed office building.
In 2017, a project to build a 3D-printed skyscraper in the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
was announced. Cazza construction would help to build the structure. At present there are no specific details, such as the buildings height or exact location.
FreeFAB Wax, invented by James B Gardiner and Steven Janssen at
Laing O'Rourke
Laing O'Rourke is a multinational construction company headquartered in Dartford, England. It was founded in 1978 by Ray O'Rourke. It is the largest privately owned construction company in the United Kingdom.
History
The company was founded by ...
, has been in development since March 2013. The technique uses construction scale 3D-printing to produce high volumes of engineered wax (up to 400L/hr) to fabricate a 'fast and dirty' 3D-printed mould for
precast concrete
Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable molding (process), mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples i ...
,
glass fibre-reinforced concrete
Glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC) is a type of fibre-reinforced concrete. The product is also known as glassfibre reinforced concrete or GRC in British English. Glass fibre concretes are mainly used in exterior building façade panels and ...
(GRC), and other sprayable/cast-able materials. The casting surface is then five-axis milled, removing approximately 5mm of wax, to create a high-quality mold (with approximately 20-micron surface roughness). After curing, the mold is then either crushed or melted, with the wax filtered and reused, significantly reducing waste, as compared with conventional mold technologies. The benefits of the technology are its fast mold fabrication, increased production efficiencies, reduced labor, and virtual elimination of waste through material reuse for bespoke molds. The system was originally demonstrated in 2014, using an industrial robot. The system was later adapted to integrate with a five-axis, high-speed gantry to achieve the rapid surface-milling tolerances, required for the system.
The US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research Development Center, led by the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL), in Champaign, IL USA, began research in deployable construction 3D-printer technology starting in September 2015. The pilot project, Automated Construction for Expeditionary Structures (ACES), focused on concrete 3D printing and covered a broad range of research areas, including printing systems, printable concrete materials, structural design and testing, and construction methods. The ACES project resulted in three demonstrations: An Entry Control Point, the first Reinforced Additively Constructed Concrete Barracks, and the printing of civil and military infrastructure (Jersey barriers, T-walls, culverts, bunkers, and fighting position) at the US Army Maneuver Support, Sustainment, and protection Experiments (MSSPIX).
In 2017 ERDC CERL began working with the US Marine Corps, resulting in the first demonstration of concrete 3D printing by military personnel, a structurally enhanced reinforced 3D printed concrete Barracks Hut, the first 3D printed bridge in the Americas, and the first demonstration of printing with a three-inch nozzle. Through this work, ERDC and the Marines were able to test structural performance of reinforced 3D printed concrete wall assemblies and bridge beams, print system resilience and maintenance cycles, extended printing operations, the publicized 24 hour building claim, and develop viable reinforcement and construction methods using conventionally accepted practices.
MX3D Metal founded by Loris Jaarman and team has developed two 6 axis robotic 3D printing systems, the first uses a thermoplastic which is extruded, notably this system allows the fabrication of freeform non-planar beads. The second is a system that relies on additive welding (essentially spot welding on previous spot welds) the additive welding technology has been developed by various groups in the past. MX3D worked on the fabrication and installation of the metal bridge in Amsterdam for six years. The completed pedestrian and bicycle bridge was opened in July 2021. The bridge has a span of and a final mass of of
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
.
BetAbram is a simple gantry based concrete extrusion 3D printer developed in Slovenia. This system is available commercially, offering 3 models (P3, P2 and P1) to consumers since 2013. The largest P1 can print objects up to 16m x 9m x 2.5m.
Total Custom concrete 3D printer developed by Rudenko is a concrete deposition technology mounted in a gantry configuration, the system has a similar output to Winsun and other concrete 3D printing technologies, however it uses a lightweight truss type gantry. The technology has been used to fabricate a backyard scale version of a castle and a hotel room in the Philippines.
Serial production of construction printers was launched by SPECAVIA company, based in Yaroslavl (Russia). In May 2015, the company introduced the first model of a construction 3d printer and announced the start of sales.
XtreeE has developed a multi-component printing system, mounted on top of a 6-axis robotic arm. The project has started in July 2015, and includes collaboration and investments from the construction industry, such as
Saint Gobain
Saint Gobain (died 670), also known as Goban, was an Irish monk and spiritual student of Saint Fursey at Burgh Castle, Norfolk, England.
Born in Ireland, he was a brother of Saint Wasnon, (to whom a church is dedicated in Condé-sur-l'Escaut). ...
,
Vinci
Vinci may refer to:
Places
*Vinci, Tuscany, a ''comune'' in the Province of Florence, Italy
*Vinci (Golubac), a community in Braničevo District, Serbia
People
* Alessandro Vinci (born 1987), Italian footballer
*Alessio Vinci (born 1968), Itali ...
, and
LafargeHolcim
Holcim is a Swiss-based global building materials and aggregates flagship division of the Holcim Group. The original company was merged on 10 July 2015 with Lafarge to form LafargeHolcim as the new company and renamed to Holcim Group in 202 ...
.
3DPrinthuset, a Danish 3DPrinting startup, has also branched into construction with its sister company COBOD International, which made its own gantry-based printer in October 2017.
S-Squared 3D Printers Inc is a
3D printer
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
manufacturing and retail company based in
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, New York. The company was co-founded by Robert Smith and Mario Szczepanski in 2014 and has 13 employees and makes 3D printers for hobbyists, libraries and STEM programs. In 2017, the company launched a new division, S-Squared 4D Commercial, to construct homes and commercial buildings with their 3D printing rig called ''Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS)''. The system can build homes, commercial buildings, roads and bridges. ARCS can complete projects from 500 square feet to more than one million square feet.
In 2021, Mario Cucinella Architects and 3D printing specialists
WASP
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
demonstrated the first 3D printing of a house made out of a clay-mixture, ''Tecla'' .
In 2022, engineers reported the development of swarms of autonomous 3D-printing drones for additive manufacturing and repair.
In November 2022, researchers at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center completed a home composed of modular sections printed from wood byproducts.
Design
Architect James Bruce Gardiner designed two projects, Freefab Tower in 2004 and the Villa Roccia in 2009–2010. FreeFAB Tower was based on the original concept to combine a hybrid form of construction 3D printing with modular construction. Influences can be seen in various designs used by Winsun, including articles on the Winsun's original press release and office of the future. The FreeFAB Tower project also depicts the first speculative use of multi-axis robotic arms in construction 3D printing, the use of such machines within construction has grown steadily in recent years with projects by MX3D and Branch Technology.
The Villa Roccia 2009–2010 took this work a step further with the a design for a Villa at Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, Italy in collaboration with D-Shape. The design for the Villa focused on the development of a site specific architectural language influenced by the rock formations on the site and along the coast of Sardinia, while also taking into account the use of a panellised prefabricated 3D printing process. The project went through prototyping and didn't proceed to full construction.
Francios Roche (R&Sie) developed the exhibition project and monograph 'I heard about' in 2005 which explored the use of a highly speculative self propelling snake like autonomous 3D printing apparatus and generative design system to create high rise residential towers.
Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars's
performative architecture
Performative architecture is an architecture using digital technologies to challenge the way the built environment is designed.
People move – Architecture stops. People desire – space defines. The designer as a spatial programmer collects mov ...
3D-printed building was planned to be built by a partnership of Dutch companies. The house was planned to be built in the end of 2014, but this deadline wasn't met. The companies have said that they are still committed to the project.
Structures
3D concrete printing technology is used in the construction of thin-walled wall structures that do not require thermal insulation conditions.
3D printed buildings
The
3D Print Canal House The 3D Print Canal House is a three-year, publicly accessible "Research & Design by Doing" project in which an international team of partners from various sectors works together on 3D printing a canal house in Amsterdam.
By building the house, all ...
was a construction project.
The first residential building in Europe and the
CIS
Cis or cis- may refer to:
Places
* Cis, Trentino, in Italy
* In Poland:
** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central
** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north
Math, science and biology
* cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...
, constructed using the 3D printing construction technology, was the home in
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...
(Russia) with the area of 298.5 sq. meters. The walls of the building were printed by the company SPECAVIA in December 2015. 600 elements of the walls were printed in the shop and assembled at the construction site. After completing the roof structure and interior decoration, the company presented a fully finished 3D building in October 2017.
Dutch and Chinese demonstration projects are slowly constructing 3D-printed buildings in China, Dubai and the Netherlands. Using the effort to educate the public to the possibilities of the new plant-based building technology and to spur greater innovation in 3D printing of residential buildings. A small concrete house was 3D-printed in 2017.
The Building on Demand (BOD), the first 3D printed house in Europe, is a project led by COBOD International for a small 3D printed office hotel in Copenhagen, Nordhavn area. As of 2018, the building stands fully completed and furbished.
3D printed bridges
In Spain, the first pedestrian bridge printed in 3D in the world (3DBRIDGE) was inaugurated 14 December 2016 in the urban park of Castilla-La Mancha in Alcobendas, Madrid. The 3DBUILD technology used was developed by
ACCIONA
Acciona, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational conglomerate dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure (construction, water, industrial and services) and renewable energy. The company, via subsidiary Acciona Energy, produces 21 te ...
, who was in charge of the structural design, material development and manufacturing of 3D printed elements. The bridge has a total length of 12 meters and a width of 1.75 meters and is printed in micro-reinforced concrete. Architectural design was done by Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC).
The 3D printer used to build the footbridge was manufactured by D-Shape. The 3D printed bridge reflects the complexities of nature's forms and was developed through parametric design and computational design, which allows to optimize the distribution of materials and allows to maximize the structural performance, being able to dispose the material only where it is needed, with total freedom of forms. The 3D printed footbridge of Alcobendas represented a milestone for the construction sector at international level, as large scale 3D printing technology has been applied in this project for the first time in the field of civil engineering in a public space.
3D printed architectural forms
In August 2018 in Palekh (old town in Russia) was the world's first application of additive technology for сreating the fountain.
The fountain "Snop" (Sheaf) was originally created in the middle of the 20th century by famous sculptor Nikolai Dydykin. Nowadays, during the restoration of the fountain, it was changed from a rectangular to a round shape. The backlight system has also been updated. The renovated fountain now is 26 meters in diameter and 2.2 meters deep. The parapet of the 3D fountain with internal communication channels was printed by the AMT construction printer produced by AMT-SPETSAVIA group.
Extraterrestrial printed structures
The printing of buildings has been proposed as a particularly useful technology for constructing off-Earth habitats, such as habitats on the Moon or
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
. , the
European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
was working with
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
-based
Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide.
...
to examine the potential of printing lunar bases using regular 3D printing technology. The architectural firm proposed a building-construction 3D-printer technology in January 2013 that would use lunar regolith raw materials to produce lunar building structures while using enclosed inflatable habitats for housing the human occupants inside the hardshell printed lunar structures. Overall, these habitats would require only ten percent of the structure mass to be
transported
''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film.
Plot
In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she wou ...
from Earth, while using local lunar materials for the other 90 percent of the structure mass.
The dome-shaped structures would be a weight-bearing catenary form, with structural support provided by a closed-cell structure, reminiscent of bird bones. In this conception, "printed" lunar soil will provide both "
radiation
In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes:
* ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
and
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
insulation" for the Lunar occupants.
The building technology mixes lunar material with
magnesium oxide
Magnesium oxide ( Mg O), or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium (see also oxide). It has an empirical formula of MgO and consists of a lattice of Mg2+ ions and O2− ions ...
which will turn the " moonstuff into a pulp that can be sprayed to form the block" when a binding salt is applied that "converts
his
His or HIS may refer to:
Computing
* Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company
* Honeywell Information Systems
* Hybrid intelligent system
* Microsoft Host Integration Server
Education
* Hangzhou International School, in ...
material into a stone-like solid." A type of
sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
is also envisioned.
Tests of 3D printing of an architectural structure with simulated lunar material have been completed, using a large
vacuum chamber
A vacuum chamber is a rigid enclosure from which air and other gases are removed by a vacuum pump. This results in a low-pressure environment within the chamber, commonly referred to as a vacuum. A vacuum environment allows researchers to condu ...
in a terrestrial lab. The technique involves injecting the binding liquid under the surface of the regolith with a 3D printer nozzle, which in tests trapped -scale droplets under the surface via capillary forces. The printer used was the D-Shape.
A variety of lunar infrastructure elements have been conceived for 3D structural printing, including landing pads, blast protection walls, roads,
hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
funded a small study at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
to further develop
the ''
Contour Crafting
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (in the Viterbi School of Engineering) that uses a computer-controlled crane or ...
'' 3D printing technique. Potential applications of this technology include constructing lunar structures of a material that could consist of up to 90-percent lunar material with only ten percent of the material requiring
transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...
from Earth.
NASA is also looking at a different technique that would involve the
sintering
Clinker nodules produced by sintering
Sintering or frittage is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by pressure or heat without melting it to the point of liquefaction.
Sintering happens as part of a manufacturing ...
of
lunar dust
Lunar soil is the grain size, fine fraction of the regolith found on the selenography, surface of the Moon. Its properties can differ significantly from those of Soil, terrestrial soil. The physical properties of lunar soil are primarily the r ...
using low-power (1500 watt) microwave energy. The lunar material would be bound by heating to , somewhat below the melting point, in order to fuse the nanoparticle dust into a solid block that is
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
-like, and would not require the transport of a binder material from Earth as required by the Foster+Partners, Contour Crafting, and D-shape approaches to extraterrestrial building printing. One specific proposed plan for building a lunar base using this technique would be called SinterHab, and would utilize the
JPL
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States.
Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
six-legged
ATHLETE
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
robot to autonomously or telerobotically build lunar structures.
As of December of 2022, NASA awarded the Texas based company ICON with a $57.2 million contract to build 3D printed habitats, landing pads, and roads on the lunar surface and to support its
ARTEMIS
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...
program. The contract runs through 2028. The company participated in the NASA's 3D Printed Habitat Challenge in collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines and was awarded a prize for its printed structural system prototype.
Clay printing
In April 2021, the first
prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
3D printed house made out of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
homelessness
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
, help enable intentional communities such as autonomous, autarkeco-communities, and enable the provision of housing for victims of natural disasters as well as – via knowledge- and technology-transfer to local people – for migrants to Europe near their homes, including as an increasingly relevant political option. It was built in Italy by the architecture studio Mario Cucinella Architects and 3D printing specialists WASP. The building's name is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words
Data and projections indicate an increasing relevance of buildings that are both low-cost and
sustainable
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...
, notably that, according to a 2020 UN report, building and construction are responsible for ~38% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, that, partly due to global warming, migration crises are expected to intensify in the future and that the UN estimates that by 2030, ~3 billion people or ~40% of the world's population will require access to accessible, affordable housing. Disadvantages of printing with clay-mixtures include height-limitations or horizontal space requirements, initial costs and size of the non-mass-produced printer, latencies due to having to let the mixture dry with current processes, and other problems related to the novelty of the product such as their connection to plumbing systems.
Concrete printing
Large-scale,
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
-based 3D printing disposes the need for conventional molding by precisely placing, or solidifying, specific volumes of material in sequential layers by a computer controlled positioning process. This 3D printing approach consist of three general stages: data preparation, concrete preparation and component printing.
For path and data generation, a variety of methods are implemented for the generation of robotic building paths. A general approach is to slice a 3D shape into flat thin layers with a constant thickness which can be stacked up onto each other. In this method, each layer consists of a
contour line
A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional grap ...
and a filling pattern which can be implemented as
honeycomb structures
Honeycomb structures are natural or man-made structures that have the geometry of a honeycomb to allow the minimization of the amount of used material to reach minimal weight and minimal material cost. The geometry of honeycomb structures can ...
or
space-filling curve
In mathematical analysis, a space-filling curve is a curve whose range contains the entire 2-dimensional unit square (or more generally an ''n''-dimensional unit hypercube). Because Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932) was the first to discover one, space ...
s. Another method is the tangential continuity method which produces 3-dimensional building paths with locally varying thicknesses. This method results in creating constant contact surfaces between two layers, therefore, the geometrical gaps between two layers which often limits the 3D printing process will be avoided.
The material preparation stage includes mixing and placing the concrete into the container. Once the fresh concrete has been placed into the container, it can be conveyed through the pump–pipe–
nozzle
A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe.
A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...
system to print out self-compacting concrete filaments, which can build layer-by-layer structural components. In the additive processes, pumpability and the stability of the extrusion is important for the applications of mortars. These properties will all vary depending on the concrete mix design, the delivery system, and the deposition device. General specifications of wet concrete 3D printing are categorized into four main characteristics:
* Pumpability: The ease and reliability with which material is moved through the delivery system
* Printability: The ease and reliability of depositing material through a deposition device
* Buildability: The resistance of a deposited wet material to deformation under load
* Open time: The period where the above properties are consistent within acceptable tolerances.
To execute the printing process, a control system is required. These systems can be generally split into two categories:
gantry
A gantry is an overhead bridge-like structure supporting equipment such as a crane, signals, or cameras.
Devices and structures
*Gantry (medical), cylindrical scanner assembly used for medical 3D-imaging or treatment
*Gantry (transport), an over ...
systems and robotic arm systems. The gantry system drives a manipulator mounted onto an overhead to locate the print nozzle in XYZ
cartesian coordinates
A Cartesian coordinate system (, ) in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular oriented lines, measured in t ...
while robotic arms offer additional degrees of freedom to the nozzle, allowing more accurate printing workflows such as printing with tangential continuity method. Regardless of the system used for printing (gantry crane or robotic arm), the coordination between the nozzle travel speed and the material flow rate is crucial to the outcome of the printed filament. In some cases, multiple 3D printing robotic arms can be programmed to run simultaneously resulting in decreased construction time. Finally, automated post-processing procedures can also be applied in scenarios which require the removal of support structures or any surface finishing.
The researchers at Purdue University have pioneered a 3D printing process known as Direct-ink-Writing for fabrication of architectured cement-based materials for the first time. They demonstrated using 3D-printing, bio-inspired designs of cement-based materials is feasible and novel performance characteristics such as flaw-tolerance and compliance can be achieved.
Construction speed
Claims have been made by
Behrokh Khoshnevis
Behrokh Khoshnevis is the President and CEO of Contour Crafting Corporation and the Louise L. Dunn Distinguished Professor of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), where he has affiliations with the Aerospace & Mechanical En ...
since 2006 for 3D printing a house in a day, with further claims to notionally complete the building in approximately 20 hours of "printer" time. By January 2013, working versions of 3D-printing building technology were printing of building material per hour, with a follow-on generation of printers proposed to be capable of per hour, sufficient to complete a building in a week.
The Chinese company WinSun has built several houses using large 3D printers using a mixture of quick drying cement and recycled raw materials. Ten demonstration houses were said by Winsun to have been built in 24 hours, each costing US$5000 (structure not including, footings, services, doors/windows and fitout). However, construction 3D printing pioneer Dr.
Behrokh Khoshnevis
Behrokh Khoshnevis is the President and CEO of Contour Crafting Corporation and the Louise L. Dunn Distinguished Professor of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), where he has affiliations with the Aerospace & Mechanical En ...
claims this was faked and that WinSun stole his
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
.
Research and public knowledge
There are several research projects dealing with 3D Construction printing, such as the 3D concrete printing (3DCP) project at the
Eindhoven University of Technology
The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...
, or the various projects at the
Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia ( ca, Institut d'Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya, IAAC; ) also known as IAAC, is an educational and research centre dedicated to the development of an architecture capable of meeting the wor ...
(Pylos, Mataerial, and Minibuilders). The list of research projects is expanding even more in the last couple of years, thanks to a growing interest in the field.
State-of-the-art research
The majority of the projects have been focused on researching the physical aspects behind the technology, such as the printing technology, material technology, and the various issues related to them. COBOD International (formerly known as 3DPrinthuset, now its sister company) has recently led a research oriented towards exploring the current state of the technology worldwide, by visiting more than 35 different 3D Construction printing related projects. For each project, a research report has been issued, and the gathered data has been used to unify all the various technologies into a first attempt at a common standardized categorization and terminology.
First 3D construction printing conference
Along with the research, 3DPrinthuset (now known as COBOD International) has organized two international conferences on 3D Construction printing (February and November 2017 respectively), aimed at bringing together the strongest names in this emerging industry to discuss the potentials and challenges that lie ahead. The conferences were the first of this kind, and have brought together names such as D-Shape,
Contour Crafting
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (in the Viterbi School of Engineering) that uses a computer-controlled crane or ...
, Cybe Construction, Eindhoven's 3DCP research, Winsun, and many more. Along the 3D Construction printing specialists, there has also been a strong presence from the traditional construction industry key players for the first time, with names such as
Sika AG
Sika AG is a Swiss multinational specialty chemical company that supplies to the building sector and motor vehicle industry, headquartered in Baar, Switzerland. The company develops and produces systems and products for bonding, sealing, dampin ...
,
Vinci
Vinci may refer to:
Places
*Vinci, Tuscany, a ''comune'' in the Province of Florence, Italy
*Vinci (Golubac), a community in Braničevo District, Serbia
People
* Alessandro Vinci (born 1987), Italian footballer
*Alessio Vinci (born 1968), Itali ...
NCC NCC may refer to:
Biology
*Neural correlates of consciousness, neuronal events and mechanisms relating to perception phenomena
*Sodium-chloride symporter, abbreviated as NCC
Companies
*National Certification Corporation, a nursing specialty cer ...
, MYK LATICRETE, among others. A general idea emerged that the 3D Construction printing field needs a more unified platform where ideas, applications, issues and challenges can be shared and discussed.
Media interest
Although the first steps have been made nearly three decades ago, 3D construction printing has struggled to reach out for years. The first technologies to achieve some media attention were
Contour Crafting
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (in the Viterbi School of Engineering) that uses a computer-controlled crane or ...
and D-Shape, with a few sporadic articles in 2008–2012 and a 2012 TV report. D-Shape has also been featured in an independent documentary dedicated to its creator Enrico Dini, called "The man who prints houses".
One important break-through has been seen with the announcement of the first 3D printed building, using a prefabricated 3D printed components made by Winsun, which claimed to be able to print 10 houses in a day with its technology. Although the claims were still to be confirmed, the story has created a wide traction and a growing interest in the field. In a matter of months, many new companies began to emerge. This led to many new endeavors that reached the media, such as, in 2017, the first pedestrian 3d printed bridge and the first cyclist 3d printed bridge, plus an early structural element made with 3d printing in 2016, among many others.
Recently, COBOD International, formerly known as 3DPrinthuset (its sister company) has gained wide media attention with their first permanent 3D printed building, the first of its kind in Europe. The project set an important precedent for being the first 3D printed building with a building permit and documentation in place, and a full approval from the city authorities, a crucial milestone for a wider acceptance in the construction field. The story gained extensive coverage, both on national and international media, appearing on TV in Denmark, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, among many others.
Space habitat
A space habitat (also called a space settlement, space colony, spacestead, space city, orbital habitat, orbital settlement, orbital colony, orbital stead or orbital city) is a more advanced form of living quarters than a space station or habit ...
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3D printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
*
3D printing processes
A variety of processes, equipment, and materials are used in the production of a three-dimensional object via additive manufacturing. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, therefore the numerous available 3D printing process tend ...
Applications of 3D printing
In recent years, 3D printing has developed significantly and can now perform crucial roles in many applications, with the most common applications being manufacturing, medicine, architecture, custom art and design, and can vary from fully function ...