BOND STRENGTH OF 3D PRINTED CONCRETE

3D concrete printing is an innovative additive manufacturing process where the material is extruded through a nozzle to print structure layer-by-layer. In this paper, the authors investigate the possibility of improving the interface bond strength of this layer by layer construction technique. Many factors affect the bond strength between the two layers such as time gap, surface contact area and surface moisture. The nozzle requires a specific amount of time for it to complete one cycle (time gap). Four different time-gap on the bond strength of individual layer was studied and is found that the bond of a shorter time gap yields better strength. A proposed method to improve the strength of the bond at the interface is to increase the contact surface area. Increasing the contact surface area of the layers could improve the bond strength.