GUWAHATI: Three researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed 3D-printed urban furniture using construction material made from local industrial wastes.
The researchers, Dhrutiman Dey, Dodda Srinivas and Bhavesh Chaudhari, from the Sustainable Resources for Additive Manufacturing (SReAM) at IIT Guwahati have developed new cementitious mix compositions amenable for 3D printing.
The concrete printer jointly developed by IIT Guwahati and Deltasys E Forming is capable of printing components up to 1 meter long, 1 meter wide and 1 meter tall. The complete cycle for 3D-printed urban furniture took about 20 minutes to complete.
Concrete 3D printing is gaining momentum in the building and construction industries. Recent developments in this field such as 3D-printed modular houses, pedestrian footbridges, office buildings, public schools, and low-cost toilet units have the potential to initiate a paradigm change in the practice of construction.
The IIT Guwahati research group used specially-developed printable concrete containing industrial wastes as binders to build 3D-printed furniture with a seating height of 0.4 meter, a width of 0.4 meter, and arch-shaped support that was modelled and sliced using SolidWorks and Simplify3D respectively. The entire unit was printed layer by layer at an 80 mm/s speed, with each layer having a 10 mm height. After the unit was printed, it was covered by moist gunny bags for 7 days to cure before being used.
Traditionally, these structures were mould cast, which required more concrete material, labour, and formwork preparation. However, with 3D concrete printing, optimised designs are printed with 75 per cent less concrete and without the need for a mould.
Speaking about this research, Dr Biranchi Panda, Department of Mechanical Engineering IIT Guwahati, said, “We showcased how material-efficient structures can be produced in our lab-scale 3D printer. Our goal is to design high-performance concrete mixes made from industrial wastes for printing such complex structures.”