Development of Test Methods to Evaluate the Printability of Concrete Materials for Additive Manufacturing

This study proposes test methods for assessing the printability of concrete materials for Additive Manufacturing. The printability of concrete is divided into three main aspects: flowability, setting time, and buildability. These properties are considered to monitor the critical quality of 3DCP and to ensure a successful print. Flowability is evaluated through a rheometer test, where the evolution of shear yield strength is monitored at a constant rate (rpm), similar to the printer setup. Flowability limits were set based on the user-defined maximum thickness of a printed layer and the onset of gaps/cracks during printing. Setting time is evaluated through an ultrasonic wave pulse velocity test (UPV), where the first inflection point of the evolution of the UPV graph corresponds to the setting time of the concrete specimen. The results from this continuous non-destructive test were found to correlate with the results from the discrete destructive ASTM C-191 test for measuring setting time with a maximum difference of 5% between both sets of values. Lastly, buildability was evaluated through the measurement of the early-age compressive strength of concrete, and a correlation with the UPV results obtained a predictive model that can be used in real-time to non-destructively assess the material buildability. This predictive model had a maximum percentage difference of 13% with the measured values. The outcome of this study is a set of tests to evaluate the properties of 3D printable concrete (3DP) material and provide a basis for a framework to benchmark and design materials for additive manufacturing.