article · Construction and Building Materials
Conventional 3D printable concrete mixtures rely heavily on ordinary Portland cement, which contributes significantly to global carbon dioxide emissions. To improve sustainability, ordinary Portland cement can be largely replaced with alternative binders including fly ash, silica fume, blast furnace slag, and metakaolin, alongside an increased aggregate-to-binder mass ratio. Testing focused on critical printing requirements such as pumpability, extrudability, and buildability, as well as mechanical strength. Formulations containing alternative binders at sixty percent of the total binder volume achieved 28-day compressive strengths between 31 and 55 megapascals and elastic moduli of 29 to 37 gigapascals. When printed, these experimental mixtures produced structures with smooth, uniform surfaces and no visible signs of cracking. These results demonstrate that high volumes of supplementary cementitious materials can successfully support 3D concrete printing while lowering environmental impact.
Cement production is responsible for around ten percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. As construction explores automated 3D printing, relying on traditional cement mixtures threatens to increase this environmental burden. Demonstrating that industrial by-products and alternative binders can replace most of the cement without compromising structural performance or print quality offers a viable route to lower-carbon automated building practices.
This research presents applied laboratory testing of lower-carbon concrete mixes designed for construction companies and additive manufacturing specialists. By successfully testing printability, buildability, and structural strength, the formulations show practical potential for automated building construction. However, moving from experimental trial prints to commercial deployment will require wider field validation, standardisation, and adaptation to commercial-scale 3D printing machinery.
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Most 3D printable concrete (3DPC) mixtures currently found in literature and the construction industry contain a high volume of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) which contributes to 10% of the global CO2 emissions. In this study, the volume fraction of OPC in 3DPC is significantly reduced by using fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), slag (GGBS) and metakaolin (MK60) as alternative binders and increasing the aggregate-to-binder mass ratio from 1.6 to 1.75. The experimental programme is planned considering the evaluation of pumpability, extrudability and buildability requirements. Mechanical characterisation in the form of compression tests and modulus of elasticity are conducted. Three mixtures incorporating alternative binders, constituting 60% of the total binder volume, are developed. These mixtures have appropriate rheological properties for 3D printing, 28-day compressive strengths of between 31 and 55 MPa and elastic moduli of 29–37 GPa. Printed structures using any one of the three mixes had uniform, smooth surfaces with no visual indication of surface cracking. The findings of this study demonstrate the potential for incorporating FA, SF, GGBS, and MK60 in high quantities as alternative binders in 3DPC. This approach enhances the sustainability of 3DPC, indicating a positive feasibility in terms of performance and environmental impact.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.135474
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