Concrete 3D printing technology for sustainable construction: A review on raw material, concrete type and performance
Xiaonan Wang, Wengui Li, Yipu Guo, Alireza Kashani, Kejin Wang, Liberato Ferrara, Isabel Agudelo
Abstract
This paper reviews recent developments and proposes perspectives for future research on three-dimensional printing concrete (3DPC). This review originally analyses the 3DP applications combined with concrete types that are classified into three groups: functional concrete, sustainable concrete, and special concrete. The 3DP technique shows different effects on concrete types due to various modification methods (e.g., nano-additive, fibre addition, and chemical reagent) and challenging requirements (e.g., anisotropy exploit and defect). Summarily, the oriented fibre of 3DPC is a double-edged sword, asking for optimal structural design for engineered cementitious composite (ECC), ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC), and most fibre-improved concrete. The 3DP technique is not propitious to all concrete types, such as foam concrete, because the additional pressure in the printing process poses a huge disadvantage to foam stability. This paper also proposes the 3DPC protentional from the view of concrete features, which represents a contribution to advanced concrete technology and 3DPC development direction.