Structural built up of cement based materials used for 3D printing extrusion techniques
Abstract Additive manufacturing and digital fabrication bring new horizons to concrete and cement based material construction. 3D printing inspired construction techniques that have recently been developed at laboratory scale for cement based materials. This study aims to investigate the role of the structural build up properties of cement based materials in such a layer by layer construction technique. As construction progresses, the cement based materials become harder with time. The mechanical strength of the cement based materials must be sufficient to sustain the weight of the layers subsequently deposited. It follows that the comparison of the mechanical strength, which evolves with time (i.e. structural build up) with the loading due to layers subsequently deposited, can be expected to provide the optimal rate of layer by layer construction. A theoretical framework has been developed to propose a method of optimization of the building rate, which is experimentally validated in a layer wise built column.