Conception of a Real World 3D Printing Method for Reinforced Concrete (AMoRC) (2020-08)¶

Unreinforced concrete components that can be produced using extrusion-based 3D printing methods are only rarely suitable for use in real structures, as they fail brittle and have insufficient load-bearing capacities. Therefore, new methods are needed that enable the integration of steel reinforcement into the concrete printing process and thus the additive production of the composite material reinforced concrete. The conceptual design of a practice-oriented 3D printing process for reinforced concrete, the so-called "Additive Manufacturing of Reinforced Concrete" (AMoRC), is therefore the subject of this article. In the AMoRC process, prefabricated steel reinforcement bars are joined in sections using an arc stud welding process to form a three-dimensional reinforcement structure and simultaneously overprinted using a concrete extrusion process. This article describes the development of the process and initial preliminary investigations into its feasibility.