Additive manufacturing technology in mining engineering research

Nowadays, additive manufacturing, or 3D printing (3DP), though not a new technology in many industrial fields, is still relatively novel in mining engineering. This study explored the application of 3D metal printing, 3D polylactic acid/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene printing, and 3D concrete printing in coal mining. Some examples of physical models established via 3DP technologies were studied in detail, namely, 3DP bolts, 3DP steel ladder beams, 3DP face plates, and 3DP metal arches, which were installed in scaled 3DP concrete prototype models of coal mine excavation. Through the comprehensive laboratory loading tests, the models could simulate the damage scenario highly similar to the real failures. The results show that the 3D printed physical models greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of experiments. On this basis, the conceptual design of a 3DP machine for physical models was proposed, which had the potential of resembling the strata deformation/collapse in natural scenarios. Through assessing the applicability of the additive manufacturing technology in mining engineering, this study aimed to further explore its potential applicability in other engineering contexts such as slope controlling, large underground engineering, and underground space stability.