3D Printing Trends in Building and Construction Industry: Potentials and Challenges

Three-dimensional printing known as additive manufacturing is an advanced manufacturing process that can produce complex shape geometries automatically from 3D computer-aided design without any tooling, dies and fixtures. This automated manufacturing process has been applied to many diverse fields of industry today due to significant advantages of creating functional prototypes in reasonable build time with less human intervention and minimum material wastage. However, more recent application of this technology towards the built environment seems to improve our traditional building strategies while reducing the need for human resources, high capital investments and additional frameworks. Research interest in employing 3D printing for building and construction had increased exponentially in the past few years. This paper will address state-of-the art technologies for 3D concrete printing (3DCP) in building and construction industry, future directions, and research gap in 3DCP.

Keywords:

3D concrete printing , Building materials , Construction , Automation