In-Line Reinforcement of Steel-Cable in 3D Concrete Printing (2023-04)¶

In recent years, there has been a significant expansion of 3D printing technologies for construction applications. However, a recurring difficulty with these processes is the lack of tensile strength in the resultant product. An innovative approach to enhance the tensile strength is the addition of reinforcement as followed in the conventional concrete casting technology. In this work, an extrusion device is therefore developed to entrain flexible steel cable within extruded concrete layer during the printing process. The device was fabricated to entrain the steel cable of different diameters during concrete extrusion with the help of a wire feeder in a controlled way. A printable material was used and the structural performance of the 3D printed samples was characterized based on the tensile, three-point bending, and cable pull-out tests. The results reveal that the flexural strength of the steel cable-reinforced printed sample was significantly increased, by 77% and 240% for 1 mm and 1.5 mm diameter wire, respectively.