The 3D printing applied in the building construction sector is profoundly changing construction processes. In particular, the advent of 3D printing with viscous materials (e.g. concrete and raw earth) opened up the possibility of exploiting reused materials in the printing process. Indeed, several investigations are proposing the conversion of different waste materials into 3D printing material. On the other hand, studies on the thermal performances of 3D printed building components exploiting reused and recycled materials are still missing in related literature. The current work proposes a methodological approach to design a building component with effective performance that can be 3D printed with reused material. The approach is based on three steps: i) Reuse design, i.e. definition of the processes to recover material; ii) Parametric modelling, simulation and performance optimization of the component; iii) 3D printing setting to define an effective extrusion path. To show the potential of the method, the proposed approach is applied to a prefabricated 3D printed envelope exploiting a printable mortar including recycled glass and rubber and insulated by using glass fibres material. The result shows the possibility of designing customized geometries in order to optimize resource consumption and achieve the required performances by including recycled and reused material in the printing process.
Material re-use in 3D printed building components
Valentino Sangiorgio
;Humberto Varum;
2022-01-01
Abstract
The 3D printing applied in the building construction sector is profoundly changing construction processes. In particular, the advent of 3D printing with viscous materials (e.g. concrete and raw earth) opened up the possibility of exploiting reused materials in the printing process. Indeed, several investigations are proposing the conversion of different waste materials into 3D printing material. On the other hand, studies on the thermal performances of 3D printed building components exploiting reused and recycled materials are still missing in related literature. The current work proposes a methodological approach to design a building component with effective performance that can be 3D printed with reused material. The approach is based on three steps: i) Reuse design, i.e. definition of the processes to recover material; ii) Parametric modelling, simulation and performance optimization of the component; iii) 3D printing setting to define an effective extrusion path. To show the potential of the method, the proposed approach is applied to a prefabricated 3D printed envelope exploiting a printable mortar including recycled glass and rubber and insulated by using glass fibres material. The result shows the possibility of designing customized geometries in order to optimize resource consumption and achieve the required performances by including recycled and reused material in the printing process.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
