Journal of Cleaner Production 167 (2017) 281e288

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Additive manufacturing of geopolymer for sustainable built

environment
Biranchi Panda*, Suvash Chandra Paul, Lim Jian Hui, Yi Wei Daniel Tay, Ming Jen Tan
Singapore Centre for 3D Printing, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798,
Singapore

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper evaluates the potential of fly ash based geopolymer cement for large scale additive
Received 21 February 2017 manufacturing (AM) of construction elements. Geopolymer is considered as a green construction ma-
Received in revised form terial and its use in AM may contribute towards sustainable environment since in AM process material is
1 July 2017
only deposited whereby it is necessary. As part of this research, an industrial robot was employed to print
Accepted 19 August 2017
Available online 22 August 2017
geopolymer mortar in layer-by-layer manner directly from 3D computer-aided design (CAD) model. The
characteristic of raw materials and fresh properties were examined by rheology, x-ray diffraction (XRD),
Handling Editor: Yutao Wang and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mechanical tests such as compression, flexural and tensile
bond strength were conducted on the printed geopolymer in different printing directions and their
Keywords: performance was compared with casted samples. It was found, from the experimental results, that the
Digital construction mechanical properties of 3D printed geopolymer are mostly dependent of loading directions due to
Geopolymer anisotropic nature of the printing process and retains intrinsic performance of the material.
Additive manufacturing © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
sustainable environment

1. Introduction major categories i.e. D-shape and contour crafting (Wu et al., 2016;
Kreiger et al., 2015; Labonnote et al., 2016; Shape, 2017). Both
After more than 25 years of research and development, additive technologies have proven to be effective means of printing complex
manufacturing (AM) is still continuing to grow in various industrial geometrical structures as part of rapid construction technique (Lim
domains, such as aerospace, automobile and medical, with intro- et al., 2012). Though the printing processes in both technologies are
duction of new technologies, methods and applications (Chua and similar in a sense that objects are directly made from the CAD
Leong, 2014; Gibson et al., 2009; Khoshnevis, 2004). Out of all, models, actually they are developed for different applications and
building and construction (B&C) sector appears to be lagging in materials. In D-shape, sand and binder are used together to create
terms of technology and innovation unlike other manufacturing stone-like free-form structures (Shape, 2017), where, sand is
industries. Our current construction process continues to be rela- initially deposited over the build plate and then the binder is
tively simple and systematic; requiring cumbersome formwork and injected as per the digital model to hold the sand particles at that
much skilled labor to build any kind of freeform structures precise location. Once the printing is finished, excess sand is
(Khoshnevis et al., 2006). With evolution in time, the construction washed away from the built plate by a blowing air to the part ge-
designs are becoming more complicated and the workers involved ometry (Tibaut et al., 2016). The major limitation of this method is
in this process are increasingly exposed to unhealthy environments that only limited materials can be allowed whereas, in contour
(Kittusamy and Buchholz, 2004). This compels many researchers crafting, a wide variety of materials can be extruded out layer-by-
and industry experts to explore technologies like large scale addi- layer to print a single house or a colony of houses, while imbe-
tive manufacturing or 3D printing to bring automated solutions in dding conduits for electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning
the construction process. (Khoshnevis, 2004). Soon after the development counter crafting,
3D concrete printing technology can be categorized in two few researchers and industries have successfully printed and
characterized various cementitious material using Ordinary Port-
land Cement (OPC) as a key binder in their mix compositions (Le
et al., 2012a, 2012b; Feng et al., 2015; Rushing et al., 2017; Perrot
* Corresponding author. et al., 2016; Hambach and Volkmer, 2017; Kazemian et al., 2017).
E-mail address: [email protected] (B. Panda).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.165
0959-6526/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
282 B. Panda et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 167 (2017) 281e288

To reduce global warming effect of the OPC, some authors have Material having high yield stress was found to show less defor-
tried to replace the cement with some industrial by-products such mation on loading and to achieve this property we optimize the
as fly ash and slag that are collected from different power plant packing density by grading different raw materials in Microtrac
industries. However, 100% replacement of cement or development S3500 Particle Size Analyzer. However, due to high yield stress, the
of new environmental friendly material have never been an easy material was not extrudable through a 25-mm diameter hose pipe.
task. In this regard, recently, Xia et al (Xia and Sanjayan, 2016). Then referring an article by Choi et al. (2016), we adjusted the paste
presented a new methodology of formulating geopolymer material volume to enable a lubrication layer that helped us for smooth
for powder-based 3D printers. As discussed before, powder-based flowing of geopolymer inside the hose. Note that, due to stick na-
printing is highly suitable for small-scale building components ture of alkaline reagent the pressure during extrusion was fluctu-
which limits the technology for large scale construction. Therefore, ating between 10 and 15 bar, i.e 75 part of maximum allowable
this research aims to develop an extrusion based fly ash geo- pressure as mentioned by the pump manufacture.
polymer for large scale concrete printing application. Geopolymer Based on trial-and-error, we obtained a geopolymer mixture
is considered as a green construction material since its main in- that can be extrudable and retain its shape after printing. From the
gredients such as fly ash and slag are collected from industrial experimental trails, a printable thixotropic zone (Fig. 1(b)) was also
wastes. It is synthesized by the reaction of aluminosilicate materials identified, within which the custom made geopolymer was suitable
with user friendly alkaline reagents i.e sodium or potassium sili- for extrusion based 3D printing application. More details of the
cates (Habert et al., 2011; Davidovits, 1991; Nazari and Sanjayan, used materials and experiments are described in the later sections
2015). Successful application of fly ash based geopolymer is of this paper.
believed to reduce our dependency on the OPC.
The main goal of this paper is to develop 3D printable geo-
polymer material that have never done before for extrusion based 3. Materials and methods
large scale printing system. No-slump, extrudable geopolymer was
formulated by performing preliminary investigation as described in 3.1. Collection of raw materials
section 2. Later, mechanical properties of printed samples were
investigated and compared with conventionally casted (in-situ) The commercially available CEMGUARD® fly ash in India was
geopolymer to reveal anisotropy behavior resulting from the used as key binder in this research. Fig. 2 shows the typical
extrusion process (Panda et al., 2017). Additionally, microstructure morphology (spherical in shape) of the as-received fly ash. It is
analysis was carried out to verify the geopolymer formulation and classified as class F according to ASTM C618-12a,
final product. (SiO2 þ Al2O3 þ Fe2O3 ¼ 89.15% > 70% and CaO < 10%)
(ASTMC618-15, 2015). Ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS)
and micro silica (silica fume) were provided by Engro and Elkem
2. Preliminary investigations Pvt Ltd Singapore respectively. The chemical compositions of both
fly ash and GGBS are presented in Table 1. Due to restrictions of
Prior to experimental method presented in the third part of nozzle diameter, we have used river sand as fine aggregates in this
this paper, a preliminary investigation was conducted to develop research. The particle size distribution of all the raw materials are
printable geopolymer material, i.e the material must poses high plotted in Fig. 3.
yield stress at the beginning (rest period) and become less For the geopolymerization, potassium hydroxide and potassium
viscous when agitated or stressed, but again rebuilds or re- silicate solutions were used as the alkaline reagent. Potassium sil-
flocculates to initial state once comes to rest (Wallevik, 2009). icate (SiO2 ¼ 24.94%, K2O ¼ 19.09%and water ¼ 55.97%) was ob-
Unlike conventional casting, 3D concrete printing process re- tained from Noble Alchem Pvt. Ltd, India whereas potassium
quires a continuous, high degree control of material during hydroxide is prepared in the lab by dissolving pallets in distilled
printing where traditional concrete cannot be used directly. water to obtain 8 M molarity. Both potassium hydroxide and po-
Shape retention and extrudable are two contradicting charac- tassium silicate were mixed together to obtain 1.8 M ratio and
teristics that need be to be fulfilled while developing new ma-
terials for concrete printing application.
In this investigation, a typical fly ash based geopolymer was
formulated using potassium silicate as alkaline reagent. The mix
proportion was then manipulated by changing the type and
amount of admixtures and/or additives (like magnesium
aluminum-silicate, nano clay) to achieve shape stability. For
buildability, we used our custom-made plate stacking test (Fig. 1) to
monitor the deformation upon subsequent loading of the layers.

Fig. 1. (a) Green strength characterization using plate stacking test (1. Dial gauge 2.
Added weights 3. Fresh geopolymer) (b) Early age property obtained from Rheometer. Fig. 2. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs of fly ash.
 B. Panda et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 167 (2017) 281e288 283

Table 1 first generated from the 3D model of the desired object, using 3D-
The chemical composition of Fly ash and GGBS. 2D slicing software, which slices the 3D shape of the object into
SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO TiO2 K2O SO3 layers of constant thickness. A six axis Denso® robot, mounted on a
Fly ash 58.59 30.44 4.66 1.21 0.776 2.02 1.51 0.09
holonomic platform, printed 500  300  85 mm rectangular slab
GGBS 30e40 7e17 0.1e1.8 30e50 2e14 NA NA NA while depositing geopolymer mortar at a speed of 120 mm/s.
During the entire printing process, hose pipe length (3 m) and
pump flow rate (3 L/min) were kept constant to avoid any inad-
vertent effect on print quality. Fig. 5 shows the overview of our
printing process starting from modeling to layer-by-layer deposi-
tion. After the printing, 50 mm cubes and 40  40  160 mm prisms
were taken out from the slab in different directions (by sawing) to
carry out a comparative mechanical test of the casted samples. For
casting, similar dimensions of cube (50 mm) and prism
(40  40  160 mm) were used and cured simultaneously with the
printed samples.

3.4. Experimental procedures

3.4.1. Rheology of printable geopolymer

The fresh properties especially rheology of geopolymer,
including yield stress and plastic viscosity are very important for
concrete printing since the print quality as well as the hardened
properties are directly related to its fresh properties. Yield stress
corresponds to the shear stress required to initiate the flow of fresh
concrete, whereas the plastic viscosity measures the resistance to
Fig. 3. Particle size distributions obtained from Mastersizer 2000.
flow after flow is initiated (Banfill, 1991). In this research, Viskomat
XL from Schleibinger testing systems, Germany was used to study
stored at room temperature of 25 ± 2  C for 24 h before using them the rheology of geopolymer mortar. The Viskomat XL consists of a
in geopolymer mix. three-liter container with one rotating four blade vane (diameter
69 mm, height 69 mm) inside it. After the material is loaded in to
this container, flow curve test was performed at increasing speed of
3.2. Synthesis of geopolymer
60 rpm up to two minutes followed by two-minutes constant speed
and then reducing to zero in two minutes. The area of T (Torque) - N
All the dry materials, i.e., fly ash, GGBS and silica fume were
(rotation, rpm) graph was used to measure thixotropic index
blended together (as per Table 2) in a Hobart planetary mixer (slow
whereas the down curve is considered to calculate Bingham pa-
speed) for 2e3 min followed by addition of thixotropic additives
rameters of the mortar i.e. plastic viscosity, and shear stress (Ahari
(Actigel and cellulose) to achieve no-slump extrudable geopolymer.
et al., 2015).
Then the dry mix was activated by adding alkaline solution (po-
tassium silicate) for around one minute in medium speed. Soon
3.4.2. Density
after, fine river sand was poured and mixed homogenously for
The bulk densities of casted samples were measured by taking
another 1e2 min. At the end, slight addition of water was allowed
average from three samples after 28 days of ambient curing. For
for getting good workability of the mix. Now the geopolymer is
printed part, 50 mm cubes (extracted from 500  300  85 mm
ready for both casting and printing. It is important to note that the
slab) were considered for density measurement similar to the
properties of geopolymer mortar may change after being extruded
mould-casted samples.
out from the hose pipe depending on the pump pressure, length of
hose pipe, geometry of the nozzle, etc.
3.4.3. Compression, tensile (bond) and flexural test
Compressive strengths were measured for both casted and
3.3. Casting and printing of geopolymer
printed samples using ALPHA 3e2000A model tester at a loading
rate 100 kN/min. All the samples were mostly 50 mm cubes. For
All the casted and printed samples were prepared from one
printed elements, total twenty-seven cube samples were extracted
batch of geopolymer mix and the respective tests were tested after
from 500  300  85 mm slab and tested in compression for 7, 14
28days of ambient curing. For printing, a 15/7 (length/width) mm
and 28 days (nine samples each day). The samples were loaded in
rectangular nozzle was used to deposit geopolymer layer by layer,
three different directions as shown in Fig. 6 and their average
controlled by 3D CAD/CAM program (see Fig. 4). The print path was
values are noted considering three samples in each direction.
Like compression test, 40  40  160 mm prisms were extracted
Table 2 from the printed slab and tested in three directions using Instron
Mix design of 3D printable geopolymer mortar. 5960 dual column system at a loading rate of 10 N/sec. In total 18
prisms (12 printed and 6 casted) are tested at the age of 7 and 28
Materials Weight by Percentage
days under 3-point bending load and their averages values were
Fly ash 27.85
reported. It is important to note that the mechanical strengths of
Slag (GGBS) 1.68
Silica Fume 3.36 printed samples are mostly dependent on the time gap between
Thixotropic Additives 0.875 the layers which is further linked to size of the sample and printing
Sand 49.55 speed. Therefore, we additionally conducted tensile bond strength
Potassium Silicate 12.5 of printed geopolymer by varying the time gap from five to twenty
Water 4.16
minutes. Two layers were printed with different time gaps (5,10,15
284 B. Panda et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 167 (2017) 281e288

Fig. 4. 3D concrete printing process pipeline.

zone (ITZ), 25 mm diameter sample was prepared from the

geopolymer cube at the age of 28 days following sectioning-
grinding-polishing activities. Due to non-conductive properties,
samples were coated using a gold sputter coater prior to imaging
to ensure that there is no arching or image instability during
micrograph collection. Fe-SEM analyses were performed using a
JEOL JSM-7600F microscope equipped with an energy dispersive
X-ray analyzer.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Rheology

Fig. 7 shows the torque-speed (T-N) graph of geopolymer

mortar obtained from the rheometer with 10 min time gap in-
terval. From the classification of non-newtonian fluids, it was
concluded that the material behavior is thixotropic in nature that
can be defined by reversible, isothermal, time-dependent
Fig. 5. Schematic of the 3D concrete printing setup. decrease in viscosity when a material is subjected to increased
shear stress or shear rate (Kovler and Roussel, 2011). Thixotropy
property has a critical role for concrete printing application. Due
and 20 min) and later a section (50  15) is extracted from it for to high yield stress and low viscosity material can easily extrud-
performing the bond test by adhering the free surface to the jig able without losing its stability.
with a rapid hardening glue. Quantitative measurement of thixotropy, obtained from the area
held between up and down curve of T-N graph, reveals the mini-
3.4.4. Microstructure characterization mum thixotropy value for the current geopolymer mix should be
X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission electron micro- 10,000. However, this value depends on test set up, mix design and
scopy (Fe-SEM) were used to characterize the raw materials and shear rate applied by rheometer. The decrease of thixotropy over
phase changed during poly-condensation process in geopolymer time (below figure) indicates our material open time i.e the time in
(Franchin et al., 2017). For this purpose, randomly oriented which the fresh concrete is reasonably extrudable. Below the
powder sample (about 1 g in weight) was prepared (for XRD) by minimum value of thixotropy, material is not suitable for extrusion
grinding dried portions of the tested samples and respective scan based printing application.
patterns were obtained for 2theta values between 10 and 80
using Pan Analytical Empyrean with CuKa source at room tem-
perature. To see the microstructure and interfacial transition

Fig. 6. The testing directions for mechanical properties. Fig. 7. Geopolymer rheology with time.
 B. Panda et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 167 (2017) 281e288 285

4.3. Compression, tensile (bond) and flexural test

Fig. 9(a) shows compressive strengths of casted as well as

printed samples after 7, 14 and 28 days of preparations. From the
test results, it was found that printed geopolymer samples are
stronger in the Y loading direction compare to X and Z directions.
This behavior can be well explained by mimicking micro-
mechanics of composite material where it has been seen that for
loading in a plane perpendicular to layers allow direct transfer and
distribution of load uniformly throughout the cross-section but in
case of loading in transverse direction, the beads start to slip/
separating from each other causing lower strength in specimen.
Comparing the performance with casting, the printed samples
were found to be x5% weaker in the X and Z directions while x2%
Fig. 8. Cross section view of two different printing processes.
stronger in Y direction. This anisotropic behavior of printed sam-
ples was also confirmed by an earlier study done by pioneer
research group from Loughborough University, UK (Le et al., 2012a).
4.2. Density
Fig. 10 shows the variations in bond strength measurement with
respect to different printing time gap resulted in geopolymer
The average density of casted specimen was found to be
samples. It is evident from the decreasing pattern that a delay in
2150 kg/m3 whilst that of printed specimen was a little higher at
layer deposition causes lower strength in the part due to poor
2250 kg/m3. This is most likely due to minimal yet forceful pressure
bonding between interfacial layer surfaces. As the material get
exerted by the pump during extrusion. Various printing samples
hardened with past of time, the layer adhesion property goes on
were iterated with the goal of progressively improving their quality
decreasing, thus low mechanical properties are obtained if material
by aiming towards a more compact final product. This comparison
is not properly designed considering the part geometry.
is shown in Fig. 8.

(a) (b)

(c)

Fig. 9. Variation of (a) compression (b) flexural-28 days (c) tensile bond strength-28 days (with time gap) of printed geopolymer compared to standard casted samples where CS:
Casted sample; PX, PY and PZ: printed sample loading in X, Y and Z direction (refer Fig. 6).
286 B. Panda et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 167 (2017) 281e288

amorphous aluminosilicate broad hump produced between 2

theta ¼ “20 and 30” characterizes the reactive and dissolvable
content in alkaline solution during the geopolymer development.
The amorphous phase was recognized as one of the most important
factors that influence the physical and mechanical properties of fly
ash geopolymers: the higher the amount of amorphous phase, the
greater the strength exhibited by the geopolymer. Comparing XRD
patterns of fly ash, the intensity of crystalline peak at 2 theta angle
of 17, 35, and 40 was found to be much less in the geopolymer,
which is a clear indication of geopolymerization. This behavior is
completely in agreement with a recent research conducted by Khan
et al. (2016) for ambient curing low Ca fly ash based geopolymer.
The Fe-SEM micrographs of casted geopolymer is shown in
Fig. 11. It is obvious that the incorporation of different additives in
geopolymer composites has significantly influenced the formation
of binding gels and ultimately the hardened microstructure. Ma-
jority of fly ash particles have dissolved during alkalination with
little traces of unreacted or partially reacted fly ash particles.
However, interfacial transition zone (ITZ) revealed (Fig. 11(b)) the
Fig. 10. XRD patterns of Fly ash and Geopolymer.
presence of some micro pores, that might have reduced compres-
sive strength of the geopolymer. More research can be done in this
direction to improve the ITZ by fully characterization the micro-
Similar to the compressive strength, flexural strength of printed structure since it plays a critical role in mechanical, transfer prop-
geopolymer was also dependent upon loading directions due to erties and consequently the long-term performance of concrete
anisotropy of the 3DP process. All the printed geopolymers were (Demie et al., 2013).
loaded in X, Y and Z directions (refer Fig. 6) for 3-point bending test
after 28 days of printing. Compared to casted samples, the printed 5. Concrete printing research and its limitations
specimen exhibited higher flexural strength in “X” and “Z” di-
rections (Fig. 9(c)) due to well compaction of the central area, Additive manufacturing of concrete is being explored in many
where maximum tensile stress used to occur during loading. places around the world. The focus is mainly on a trial-and-error
However, “Y” direction was found to be offer lowest flexural stress based exploration of the possibilities. However, to obtain a viable
because of tensile force acting perpendicular to the layer direction. manufacturing technology and realize the potential, a higher level
To improve this direction strength, addition of reinforcement can of process control is required. Fig. 12(b) shows some concrete
be considered in future which may improve the bonding between printed parts that were designed and printed at Nanyang Techno-
the layers. Moreover, advance research in terms of modeling and logical University (NTU), Singapore with the help of 6 axis Denso®
simulations are needed to confirm the findings of experimental robot and 4 axis gantry system while relating the material, machine
outcomes. and structure of the final part (Fig. 12(a)). From the author's own
experience, it is always suggested to understand the material fresh
4.4. Microstructure characterization properties and printer capabilities before designing part for AM of
concrete, so that based on the requirements, materials and print
The XRD patterns of fly ash and geopolymer are presented in path can be adjusted to incorporate complexity present in the
Fig. 10. Quartz and mullite are the major crystalline phases of the freeform design (Tay et al., 2016, 2017).
fly-ash which are unreactive in the geopolymeric reaction, and act Notwithstanding the exciting projects are running around the
as filler (Provis and Van Deventer, 2007). Nevertheless, the world, introduction of concrete printing in load bearing structures

(a) (b)

Fig. 11. (a) SEM micrograph (b) Interfacial transition zone (ITZ) of fly ash geopolymer.
 B. Panda et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 167 (2017) 281e288 287

manufacturing process and structural design are highly necessary

(Bos et al., 2016).

6. Conclusion

Extrusion-based 3D printable geopolymer mortar was devel-

oped in this study for the demand and lack of commercially avail-
able green construction material for large scale construction
projects. Printed samples were subjected to mechanical strength
testing in different directions and their performance was compared
with standard casted geopolymer. The mould-cast geopolymer was
found to exhibit higher compressive strength in “X” and “Z” di-
rection with density of 2150 kg/m3. The printing process increased
Fig. 12. (a) 3D Concrete printing components (b) robot assisted concrete printed (i) the density up to 2250 kg/m3, although, the layering process
bath tub (ii) helix tower and (iii) freeform design by large scale gantry. introduced small voids in the interstices between the extruded
layers. In this regard, proper selection of nozzle and slightly high
pump pressure can be helpful in reducing the voids. The mechan-
is still some distance away. Some issues are necessarily to be solved
ical properties of 3D printed geopolymer were inevitably affected
in this regard. These are:
by the printing directions. Comparing to casted, printed sample
exhibited higher compressive strength when load was applied in a
5.1. Reinforcement placement plane perpendicular to the layers (i. e “Y”), however, in case of
flexural sample, loading in the same direction resulted lowest
For structural safety and reliability, reinforcements are needed strength followed by other two directions. This reduction can be
in concrete printed parts. Few years back, an initiative was taken by
attributed to the tensile force acting in between the layers which is
Chinese company, Winsun by adding reinforcement manually in to weakest when compared when it acts along the layers (see
concrete printed form work (Winsun: 3dprint.com and 2016).
graphical abstract). Like compression and flexural, tensile bond
However, till now it is not clear to what extent those structures are strength is also one of the critical parameter in concrete printing
applied structurally, and what strategies have been applied to
which was highly affected by time gap between layers and material
achieve structural safety. Alternatively, for the first time, re- open time. With increase in printing time gap, bond strength was
searchers at TU/e demonstrated the ability to print concrete in
found be decreased for the samples taken from same batch of
combination with steel reinforcement and fiber (Bos et al., 2018; material. Having said that, it is very important to balance material
Salet et al., 2018). Significant post-cracking deformations and
property like in case of spray painting where sufficient time is
post-cracking strength is achieved by printing reinforcement with allowed for adhesion and self-support.
concrete. Their future research will now aim at characterizing the
Additive manufacturing of geopolymer was introduced here as a
cable behavior, optimizing the reinforcement placement for some promising technology to address the sustainable challenges in to-
structural elements.
day's construction industry and open up new opportunities of
design possibilities. However, the need to abolish conventional
5.2. Printing overhanging structures methods completely may not be necessary. The future of con-
struction is most likely to be an integrated process that allows or-
Printing overhanging structures such as arch, dome, etc., is ganizations to take advantage of both conventional and additive
another common problem in concrete printing domain. In this case, manufacturing technologies at the same time (Gosselin et al., 2016).
support material can be used to handle this issue. Also, materials Considering the current importance digital construction, it is
with rapid hardening behavior can solve this issue in some extent. believed that 3D printing of geopolymer could be a breakthrough
The advantages of rapid hardening material (or set-on demand) is for faster and sustainable built environment. The outcomes of this
that it allows to print freeform structures with an angle of incli- research can be helpful to our future structural engineers for
nation, however the bond between the layers will not be strong consideration of directional properties while designing a part for
enough for structural loading situations. Therefore, enough care concrete printing application.
should be taken while designing the material for such kind of
applications. Acknowledgement

5.3. Multi-material printing The research reported here has been supported by National
Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) and Sembcorp Design &
The real benefit of concrete printing lies in depositing different Construction Pte Ltd. The authors are thankful to Control Robotic
materials as per the need of applications. In order to happen this, Intelligence (CRI) group at Nanyang Technological University,
the structure must be optimized based on loading conditions and Singapore for the assistance in robotic printing.
then a multi head printed can simultaneously deposit materials like
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