A review of the current progress and application of 3D printed concrete

Additive manufacturing, also known as three-dimension printing (3DP), has the advantages of high building efficient, low labor cost and less construction wastes compared to traditional construction technology. 3D printed concrete is a special type of concrete, which can be deposited through a 3D printer layer by layer without any formwork support and vibration process. Its important performance indexes, including workability, setting and hardening time, and mechanical properties, can be optimized by materials selection and printing parameters. To date, many building structures have been successfully printed using 3D printed concrete technology, some of which have even achieved its real applications. The 3D printed concrete has a great potential on practical applications, such as the affordable housing construction in low-income countries, military bunkers when the soldiers fighting in the wild, and complex constructions where the formwork is difficult to manufacture. In order to comprehensively introduce 3D printed concrete, this paper reviews the progress of 3D printed concrete in terms of workability, mechanical properties and building plan design. In addition, the current applications and further developments of 3D printed concrete are also discussed.