News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
During the “Dream Road” Winsun global conference organized by Yingchuang (Winsun) on construction 3D printing technology and procurement – held in the Shanghai Qingpu Yingchuang recycling industrial park – the company presented its latest progress and upcoming projects, including colored architectures and graphene structures.
After finalizing the 3D printed reefs in the labs of the Civil Engineering School of the University of Cantabria, 3DPARE is deploying them off the Atlantic coasts of England, France and Spain. Portugal is next in line.
A new partnership forged between GE Renewable Energy, COBOD International and building materials company LafargeHolcim will seek to develop optimized 3D printed concrete bases for wind turbines to make them taller and more cost effective. The turbines, which are expected to reach record heights of 200 meters, will be co-developed through a multi-year collaboration that seeks, overall, to increase renewable energy production while lowering the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE).
In the past, we have often seen ambitious conceptual ideas for 3D printed buildings – even skyscrapers – draw much hype but never see the light. This is no longer the case. The recent concept of a floating 3D printed concrete house has already begun construction, now a new concept for 3D printed observation tower – named Supernatural Concre(a)tion may follow suit, as the project from Dubai-based studio Nyxo is actually a blueprint that covers every detail.
The city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands presents a compelling example for the blending of traditional and modern architecture, design and technologies. Because much of the city was destroyed in WWII, Rotterdam had to rebuild, and it has taken an impressively forward-thinking approach throughout the decades. This innovative spirit is exemplified in the city’s latest project: the construction of a 3D printed composite footbridge.
A two-story house was 3D printed at Kamp C, the provincial center for sustainability and innovation in construction, in Westerlo, Belgium, using the largest 3D concrete printer available. The house, part of the C3PO project, has an area of ninety square meters and was 3D printed in one piece with a fixed printer. It’s the first such project in the world.
WinSun/Yingchuang, the Chinese – and possibly the global – leader in construction 3D printing is shipping 15 3D printed wards from Suzhou to Pakistan via ocean, to help fight the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. The novel coronavirus pneumonia is common around the world and Pakistan is now experiencing a severe epidemic situation, with a total of 176,617 cases confirmed, of which 105,224 require medical assistance.
Today, the emerging construction 3D printing sector is being pioneered by a relatively small number of companies, each of which is presenting its own technology and vision for disrupting the global construction industry. Amongst them is CyBe, a Netherlands-based company that has taken an encompassing and holistic approach to construction AM.
ICON, known for 3D printing homes and communities in Mexico and central Texas, has been prototyping various structures with DIU (the Defense Innovation Unit) and USMC utilizing the technology that combines 3D robotics, software and advanced material. In January 2019, Marines were trained on the software, robotics and material delivery sub-systems at ICON’s lab with the goal of a future field demonstration to build structures important for expeditionary construction.
Construction 3D printing is booming, with hundreds of new applications emerging all over the world. The variety of solutions sometimes makes it challenging to understand exactly how materials need to behave to enable large structures to be 3D printed. In a recent video published on his channel, Jarett Gross, a Youtuber specializing specifically in this area, explains in a very clear and highly documented manner the rheology of construction 3D printing involved. If you have a direct interest in construction AM, as many of our readers do, or if you are just curious, it’s definitely worth watching.