3D printing in the construction sector
On Tuesday, 5th May, a conference on the Application of Advanced 3D Printing Technology in the Construction Sector, took place at Fundación Prodintec’s premises. The event was organised by the aforementioned company, Grupo Coprosa and Cementos Tudela Veguin and included a description of the work carried out under the Project “Development of an automated fabrication process for the construction sector using 3D printing”.
Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) is a process of making objects by depositing layers of material and its subsequent consolidation. This technology has been used for years in the aerospace, automotive, moulds and dies, medicine and engineering sectors. However, Prodintec, Coprosa and Cementos Tudela Veguín have gone one step further by adapting the additive manufacturing process to the construction sector, awarding it all the advantages and benefits of this technology and enabling the manufacture of functional and personalized objects as well as those with complex geometries. Furthermore, this new technique will allow the sector to overcome some of its constraints, such as high volume production.
The CON3D project concluded in March 2015 and was financed by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI). This project has served as a way to develop an automated process for manufacturing structures using additive manufacturing, as well as new advanced innovative concrete based materials which can be processed using this new technology.
The main innovation achieved with CON3D is that it has enabled traditional materials such as mortars and concretes, those most frequently used in the sector, to be processed using 3D printing. Furthermore, these findings were not limited to a pilot laboratory experiment, in fact a totally industrialized process including the equipment required to carry out the whole printing and manufacturing procedure has been developed.
During the session, Coprosa, one of the most important constructing firms in the sector, provided a description of the most important developments achieved with the CON3D project. Cementos Tudela Veguín, leader in cement and lime production at international level, explained all about the development of new advanced innovated concrete-based materials for use in additive manufacturing.
Rufino Cano, head of R&D at Cementos Tudela Veguín, considers the Project to have been highly successful, highlighting that “we are the first in Spain and also in Europe to integrate 3D manufacturing into the construction sector”. We are pioneers in this field, given that “a new path has been paved in a sector which up to now has used traditional methods, this could be defined as the 3rd industrial revolution, considering that in the medium term, this new technology could manufacture complex pieces involving complicated geometries, really capable of competing with traditional tecniques”. Cementos Tudela Veguín has taken the lead in the Project as regards the development of the concrete-based product for use in 3D manufacturing. Over a period of 18 months tests were carried out at the laboratories in Estabisol and then at the Morteros Tudela Veguín factory for robot-testing and finally, after much work and effort we reached our goal and came up with the ideal product”.
Published 5/7/15