Additive Manufacturing Technologies for the Construction Industry (2005-11)¶

This chapter describes the application of additive manufacturing technologies (AMTs) to the construction industry. It is intended for both readers with construction, civil and building engineering and architectural interests as well as the Rapid Manufacturing (RM) pioneers. It will build on, and assume the reader is familiar with, the background AMT terminology and processes covered in the earlier stages of the book. Many of the aspects discussed are not intended solely for the construction industry but are applicable to many largescale freeform fabrication applications. The choice to focus on construction is based on progress made in developing this field of research and its application. For readers of a construction or architectural leaning, this chapter aims to disperse a misconception which has emerged within the last few years. A search of AMTs, applied to the generic field of construction, will turn up examples of the technology being used for little more than scale model making. This chapter will not be considering these aspects. Within the construction industry, AMT development is underway. When referring to AMTs in this application, a degree of caution should be applied. By associating the term with construction, there is a danger of assuming that no clear examples of AMTs exist or existed, prior to the last few years. A straight comparison of conventional construction and existing Rapid Prototyping (RP) techniques produces interesting parallels. Current RP and emerging AMT techniques may be characterised as having the following attributes. Material preparation. Material delivery. Layer-by-layer fabrication. Phase change of either a build or bonding medium. Support system/support removal. Finishing/post-processing.