3D-printable ultra-high performance fiber-

reinforced concrete for digital construction

Approved by
Dr. Manu S Nadesan

Guided by Presented By
Dr. Manu S Nadesan Muhammed Al Fahad
Associate Professor ASI17CE041
CE Dept. ASIET 2017-2021
Department of Civil Engineering ASIET
 CONTENT
• INTRODUCTION
• OBJECTIVE
• PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
• EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY
• RESULTS
• CONCLUSION
• REFERENCE

3D printable ultra-high performance

1
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 INTRODUCTION

 Recent years have seen a rapid growth of additive manufacturing methods for
concrete construction.
 The 3D concrete printing can improve the quality and speed of construction

and eliminate the need for formwork, and thereby the associated labor,
resulting in substantial time and cost savings.
 Despite the growing interest in 3D concrete printing, the inset of tensile
reinforcement poses severe limitation to the advancement of the technology.
 A recurring issue associated with these methods, however, is the lack of
ductility in the resulting product.

3D printable ultra-high performance

2
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 Two major 3D concrete printing techniques are emerging, namely
extrusion-based 3D printing and particle-bed 3D printing.
 In the extrusion-based 3D concrete printing method, a cementitious
building material is extruded via a nozzle attached to a gantry or a robotic
arm to print a concrete structure layer-by-layer, similar to the fused
deposition modeling (FDM) technique for printing thermoplastics.
 An ideal printable cementitious material should possess low viscosity to
allow un-interrupted flow during extrusion and high yield stress to prevent
slumping of the material after deposition.

3D printable ultra-high performance

3
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 OBJECTIVES
•Systematically develop a printable ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete
(UHPFRC)

•Comparative study on printed and casted specimens

3D printable ultra-high performance

4
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
UHPFRC (Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete) :
Materials and Mix proportions

 Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose water-soluble polymer powder was used as a

viscosity modifying agent (VMA) to adjust the rheological properties of the
mixture with respect to 3D printing process.

 Brass-coated short straight steel fibers were used in the UHPFRC at a volume
fraction of 2%.

 6 mm and 3 mm steel fibres is used.

3D printable ultra-high performance

5
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 GP Cement Silica Fume

3 mm long steel fibers 6 mm long steel fibers

High Range Water Reducing Admixture Viscosity Modifying Agent

Figure1:Materials used in 3D printable UHPFRC
3D printable ultra-high performance
6
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 Table 1 : Properties of steel fibers
Diameter Length Young’s Density Strength
(um) (mm) modulus (g/cm3 ) (MPa)
(GPa)

200 6 200 7.85 2500

Table 2 : Mixture proportions of the printable UHPFRC

Binder Silica sand Water HRWRA VMA Fiber

Cement Silica Fine Medium Coarse

Fume 0.16 0.015 0.003 2%
0.7 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3

3D printable ultra-high performance

7
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 Proposed Methodology
1) Mixing
• The required materials for the UHPFRC were mixed.

2) Printing and casting

• Small-scale custom-made 3D printer was used in this study to simulate the
extrusion-based 3D concrete printing process.
• A 45-inclined rectangular nozzle of 30 mm (W) 15 mm (H) was attached to a
piston-type extruder and used in the printer.
• The extruder was a metal cylinder of 50 mm diameter and 600 mm length. The
movement of the printer on the Cartesian plane was controlled by the printer
motor.

3) Curing
• After completion of the printing process, the printed specimen were
immediately placed in a sealed container for 24 h to reduce evaporative water
loss.

3D printable ultra-high performance

8
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 Figure 2 : small scale custom made 3D printer

Figure 3: Extrusion of 3D printable UHPFRC matrix

3D printable ultra-high performance
9
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 Test Methods

Fresh properties-

 A quantitative test was set up to determine the shape retention ability (SRA)

 SRAd=dL/d ; SRAh=hL/h

 Three specimens were tested for each case to determine the average values of
SRAd and SRAh.

3D printable ultra-high performance

10
fiber reinforced for digital construction
Figure 4 : shape retention ability test results on the UHPFRC (a) matrix (b) composite

3D printable ultra-high performance

fiber reinforced for digital construction 11
 Hardened Properties

• To measure the compressive strength of the printed UHPFRC matrix and

composite, 25 mm cube specimens were sawn from the printed specimens and
were tested in three loading directions.

• To measure the modulus of rupture (MOR) of the printed UHPFRC matrix and
composite, specimens were sawn and tested in lateral and perpendicular
loading directions

• Six mold-cast 25 mm cube specimens were also tested to draw comparisons. A

three-point flexure test with 160 mm span was used.

3D printable ultra-high performance

12
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 RESULTS

Fresh Properties-

• The workability was slightly reduced with the addition of the fibers due to
weak adhesive forces between the fibers and the matrix.

• Additionally, the increase in the internal surface area per unit volume of the
composite slightly increased the adsorption of the mix water.

• It can also be observed that the UHPFRC matrix sample failed at a vertical load
greater than about 0.7 kg, which is lower than the load carried by the UHPFRC
composite sample (1.2 kg).

3D printable ultra-high performance

13
fiber reinforced for digital construction
Figure 5: Shape-retention-ability indices of the printable UHPFRC matrix and composite

3D printable ultra-high performance

14
fiber reinforced for digital construction
Figure 6: Flow test results of the UHPFRC matrix and composite

3D printable ultra-high performance

15
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 Hardened Properties-

• The compressive strength of the mold-cast specimens was higher than that of
the 3D-printed specimens in any loading directions.

• The highest compressive strength is obtained in the longitudinal direction. due

to negligible confinement in the lateral direction. compressive test result
obtained was 123.9 and 144.2 for matrix and composite respectively.

• The MORs of the UHPFRC matrix and composite in the perpendicular direction
are slightly higher than the respective MORs in the lateral direction. MOR result
obtained was 16.1 MPa and 39.5 MPa for matrix and composite respectively.

3D printable ultra-high performance

16
fiber reinforced for digital construction
Figure 7 : Compressive strength of UHPFRC matrix and composite
3D printable ultra-high performance
17
fiber reinforced for digital construction
Figure 8 : MOR of UHPFRC matrix and composite

Seminar Topic 18
 CONCLUSION

• The workability of the UHPFRC composite was slightly lower than that
of the UHPFRC matrix, the shape-retention-ability of the composite
was significantly better than that of the matrix.
• The use of fibers improves SRA and increases the vertical load capacity
of the fresh mixture
• The compressive strength, modulus of rupture (MOR) and Flexural
toughness of the developed UHPFRC composite were significantly
enhanced due to the addition of short steel fibers as compared to those
of the UHPFRC matrix.

3D printable ultra-high performance

19
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 REFERENCE
1) Arun R. Arunothayan, Behzad Nematollahi , Ravi Ranade , Jay Sanjayan. “Development
of 3D-printable ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete for digital
construction“.journal of construction and building materials(2020)
2) Devid Falliano, Dario De Domenico ,Giuseppe Ricciardi.”3D-printable lightweight foamed
concrete and comparison with classical foamed concrete in terms of fresh state properties
and mechanical strength.Journal of construction and building materials(2020)
3) B. Panda, S.C. Paul, M.J. Tan, “Anisotropic mechanical performance of 3D printed fiber
reinforced sustainable construction material“.Itil Materials Letters (2017), doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet. 2017.07.123
4) T.T. Le, S.A. Austin, S. Lim, R.A. Buswell, A.G. Gibb, T. Thorpe, “Mix design and fresh
properties for high-performance printing concrete“.Materials and Structures (2012)
45:1221–1232 DOI 10.1617/s11527-012-9828-z
5) F. Bos, R. Wolfs, Z. Ahmed, T. Salet, “Additive manufacturing of concrete in construction:
potentials and challenges of 3D concrete printing“.(2016)

3D printable ultra-high performance

20
fiber reinforced for digital construction
 Thank you

3D printable ultra-high performance

21
fiber reinforced for digital construction