3D Printing of Continuous-Fibers Cementitious Composites

Significant developments in 3D concrete have been made over the past few decades. Yet, unreinforced printed components generally do not comply with existing construction standards or regulations and are therefore not used as load-bearing components. There is still a gap between research and use, and despite several proposals, standard commercial solutions for the reinforcement of 3D-printed structural members are still awaited. The proposed technology is inspired by the composites industry and called flow-based pultrusion for additive manufacturing. The reinforcement is provided by long and aligned fibers, and produces a transverse isotropic composite mortar. Here we show the first experimental setup, and the material tests performed on the printed material. An increase in tensile strength and ductility is shown. An industrial prototype, in collaboration with the company XtreeE, is being developed. This new equipment has made it possible to print beams of 1m50 whose intrados is reinforced with carbon fibres.