3D printing concrete can cut pollution by 50%

A WASP printer was sent to an Italian Institute where concrete mortars are studied. Domenico Asprone and some friends of the University Federico II of Naples started using a 4m BIGDELTA WASP. With this mega printer, WASP researchers have developed a system to produce concrete elements that can be assembled with steel bars and beams and can compose pillars in reinforced concrete.

The research is being carried on at the CeSMA service centre (Advanced methodological Services Centre) of the University of Naples and it involves the Stress Consortium (the high-tech district of the Campania region on sustainable buildings) and the University of Pavia.

As Domenico Asprone stated to the Ansa agency: "This technology promises to streamline the forms and save material, thus lightening the reinforced concrete elements and reducing costs and environmental impacts. The possibility to obtain complex shapes then, paves the way to new uses of reinforced concrete beyond the conventional ones, with aesthetic properties and design."

"The 3D printing- Marco Iuorio from Stress Consortium explains-allows you to create curved, hollow elements, or with special features that would normally require complicated wooden shapes (moulds) for fresh concrete, with a considerable cost increase."

A test will be performed on the first beam, of about 3m long. The test will also check the mechanical performance of the new reinforced concrete elements. Experiments of the assembly systems based on the prestressing technology will continue.