Researchers atHeriot-Watt University已经发表了一项研究，对混凝土3D打印的一些好处引起了人们的怀疑。
在他们的研究中，研究人员发现，如果使用阿联酋的传统预制混凝土建造的两层楼结构是3D印刷的，那么承包商将无法实现预期的效率提高。相反，团队发现，改用3D打印将使项目的材料成本提高44％，而仅产生了很小的可持续性。
3D printing: a housing solution?
With the ongoing disruption caused by COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine showing no signs of abating, the ‘cost-of-living crisis’ being seen in parts of the Western world is only likely to get worse. For those unfamiliar with the phrase, it describes conditions under which high inflation outstrips any rises in wages or state benefits, leading to a decline in people’s disposable incomes, that is in real-terms.
您可以合理地问，这与3D打印有什么关系？好吧，消费能力的下降只能将标准提高到房屋所有权，这对于许多人来说已经需要储蓄，然后是抵押贷款的数十年。
One solution that’s often proposed to the high cost of building new homes, is adopting ‘digital construction,’ a modern approach that relies on AI, robotics and more often than not, 3D printing. Advocates of digital construction say the process, across its many different guises, brings a high level of automation (and therefore efficiency) to building sites, while enabling the use of less reinforcement materials.
It’s this material frugality that has often grabbed the headlines in recent months, with many researchers seeking to prove the technology’s sustainability via case studies. Earlier this year, anIIT Guwahatiteam3D printed furniture from industrial waste, while in the wider industry, firms likeApis Cor已致力于new affordable housing projects.
However, according to the Heriot-Watt researchers, the benefits of digital construction are rarely compared directly with those of traditional construction, in a specific end-use application. To rectify this, the team has therefore launched an investigation into what the consequences would have been, if a townhouse built via a common precast construction method in the UAE, was 3D printed instead.
得出挑战性的结论
While various construction 3D printing methods currently exist, for the sake of their hypothetical build, the researchers chose to use a gantry-based contour crafting system and a concrete rheologically-optimized for use with the technology. Once they’d established the parameters of their experiment, the team assessed the potential cost, efficiency and sustainability impact it would have in practice.
Interestingly, while the study revealed that concrete 3D printing was 34 working hours quicker than traditional construction methods, it only proved 1% more efficient. This, the researchers found, was due to the “high carbon footprint” of the 3D printing materials used as an alternative to concrete, thus, despite the ink containing 39.1% less concrete than normal cement, it was still as unsustainable.
他们的成本调查结果使团队令人惊讶的结果更加复杂，该结果表明，使用3D打印完成构建的成本将比最初架设的方式贵5％。特别是，兼容材料的高成本是作为推动流程价格上涨的问题而提高的，因为这些材料造成了该结构预计支出的约22％。
另一方面，研究人员的计算还占3D打印机的租金成本，这将占该项目总数的37％，因此，直接购买一个用于执行建筑物的一笔成本可以显着降低价格的结构。即便如此，该团队通过呼吁进一步的比较研究来结束论文，并对潜在的过程优化机会进行更多研究。
“It is recommended that further research is to be conducted,” conclude the team in their paper. “A comparative study between concrete 3D printing and a cast-in-place technique where formwork, brick and mortar walls are in use is recommended. These recommendations are significant to understand the impact of the technology in reducing the CO2 emissions of concrete production and the cost of mass housing construction.”
Moving forwards with materials
Another aspect that could well have changed the outcome of the researchers’ study, is the formulation of their 3D printing concrete, something that’s now being investigated on multiple fronts elsewhere. Working withCOBOD, for example,CEMEX想出了一个concrete that gains shape instantaneouslyupon deposition, before deploying it to construct Angola’s first-ever 3D printed home.
Similarly, in India,Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions与之合作India Cementsto develop a moresustainable construction 3D printing material. As part of a recent ‘strategic collaboration’ deal, the firms have agreed to exchange technologies and conduct joint R&D, in order to make construction in the country less wasteful.
ICE Industrial Services, which plans on使用3D打印来帮助重建乌克兰，还开发了自己的自定义混凝土3D打印公式。与旁边炮制Brno University of Technology, the material is said to be one of the USPs of the system the firm has come up with to assist in the reconstruction of Ukraine’s border posts.
The researchers’ findings are detailed in their paper titled “3D混凝土印刷，用于可持续和负担得起的住房建设启动研究,” which was co-authored by Mustafa Batikha and Moiz Ul Fazal.
要了解最新的3D印刷新闻，请不要忘记订阅3D Printing Industry newsletter或跟随我们推特or liking our page onFacebook.
For a deeper dive into additive manufacturing, you can now subscribe to ourYouTube频道，包括讨论，汇报和3D打印进程的镜头。
Are you looking for a job in the additive manufacturing industry? Visit3D Printing Jobsfor a selection of roles in the industry.
特色图片显示了DEWA的3D打印研发中心的渲染。图片通过DEWA。
