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Feb. 17, 2015 | By Alec

FreeForm Pavilion

Can the same technology of your own desktop FDM 3D printer be used on any scale? Could it even 3D print houses from concrete, rather than from plastic? With all the recent developments in the construction industry, it’s starting to look like commercial 3D printed homes are just around the corner. And as its developer Berry Hendriks revealed to us, one of the most promising concrete 3D printers of the moment – the ProTo R 3DP from CyBe – is already yielding some very promising results.

While not exactly ready for mass-production or commercial use, 3D concrete printers like this one could revolutionize both the construction industry, as well as the way homes are defined. Its advantages are evident – lower production costs, less pollution and almost complete design freedom to build your dream home. Only the practical, applied side of the equation is lagging somewhat behind, in part due to the sheer scale of necessary investments. However more and more signs are appearing – like this successful house 3D printing project in China – that suggest we could be reaching a tipping point soon.

Of all those ongoing development projects, the ProTo R 3DP from CyBe Additive Industries is definitely one of the most promising. Why? In a nutshell, because its faster and far more environmentally friendly than the rest. As Berry revealed to us in January, his special mortar ‘filament’ can form bearable structures within several minutes (thus promising to speed up building considerably), while completing the hydration process within 24 hours. Meanwhile, working with their special type of mortar produces 32% less CO2 (making it more environmentally friendly) compared to regular concrete, while it is completely reusable and thus greatly cuts down on waste and pollution.

But aside from that, the printer itself is also cleverly designed; it features a robotic arm, rather than a bulky and unwieldy XYZ setup, with a very respectable range of 3.15 meters in all directions. It is capable of extruding the company's unique cement at a speed of 175 mm per second while using a print head of 30mm x 30mm (resulting in layers of 30mm), but multiple print heads can be attached which result in different extrusion speeds  and layer thickness.

And as the latest tests reveal, it is capable of making some very interesting concrete structures. "We performed multiple experiments," Berry says. "During each experiment we solved various bugs in both the software and hardware. Besides solving these bugs we 3D printed various designs which shows the range of possible 3D printable products."

Of these, perhaps the most impressive is his ConCrete Chair, a cool piece of furniture that shows off exactly the diversity of the 3D printer. While most concrete printers are just about capable of stacking layer upon layer in a straight fashion, the ProTo R 3DP is capable of 3D printing very diverse designs thanks to the unique properties of its filament (with a little help of support structures). "Actually, we printed 2 ConCrete Chairs," Berry explains. "One without any reinforcement which collapsed while we were moving it half an hour after printing it. The second was printed with reinforcing steel which was added manually during printing. This one is still standing strong!"

While 3D concrete printers theoretically provide you with a lot of design freedom, Berry’s 3D printer thus actually seems to give you practical options in designing your home. For the same curvy principle can also be applied to actual wall construction. "Besides printing furniture we focus on the long term printing in the construction industry," Berry says. "We believe 3D concrete printing, which is a high-tech construction method, solves several challenges that occur by med-tech and low-tech construction methods. One of these challenges is to build curved walls without this is cost-increasing or building walls which require less material and still have the same properties as a solid wall."

To put his money where his mouth is, Berry 3D printed a curved wall with a horizontal S-shape (above) that is a sturdy and as architecturally sound as any straight wall. And it was done in just 27 minutes! "This curved wall shows one of the main advantages compared to Med-tech construction methods. Although the wall is only curved in the horizontal direction, architects and designers are getting able to play around with freeform design," Berry says. In the near future, CyBe will also experiment with curves going in every direction, to show what his 3D printer is truly capable of.

But as efficiency is just as important as design freedom, Berry also 3D printed a wall that requires up to 75% less concrete that regular solid walls, while maintaining its core strength. This wall, which has been dubbed the D-wall (below) took just 31 minutes to 3D print. "This straight wall, whose design has been developed together with our structural engineer, requires up to 75% less material compared with a solid wall." Berry says. "We’re able to tune design of the wall through parametric design on the requirements which occur for example from the weight which comes to lie on top of the D-wall."

To back up claims of structural strength, Berry has also made several calculations as to how much pressure his concrete walls can take. And as can be seen in the table below, Both his flexible and his compressed walls proved capable of sustaining a lot of pressure. In fact, their capacity only grew over time after 3D printing.

Of course, this development project is still exactly that, a project in development. It means there are still several bugs in both the hardware and software setups that need to be addressed before coming nearer to market suitability. There are also still several rounds of 3D printing experiments to be completed, to truly find out what can and cannot be done.

Among these is the FreeForm Pavilion, a project CyBe will start in collaboration with THE FORM FOUNDATION. "In it, we combine 3Dconcrete printing with parametric design to build a complex sculpture which consists out of one fully curved element," Berry tells us. "The first experiments regarding this project were successful. We assume that the FreeForm Pavilion can be ready this summer. This project is also made possible by Smart3Dprint, who wants to make 3Dprinting accessible for everyone. Currently, we are in discussions to select a suitable location to 3Dprint the Sculpture on-site."

CyBe are also already looking towards establishing partnerships with architects, designers and other construction-related parties to work on projects together (if interested, please visit the CyBe website here). All in all, the development of the ProTo R 3DP Printer is thus progressing rapidly, and should yield some very interesting results in the coming months. I suspect that 2015 will be a very interesting year for concrete 3D printing.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printers

 

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