1. Summary

Starting in 1980s, 3D printing technology is a new manufacturing technology of rapid prototyping which is based on digital model files and uses computer automatic control technology. The printed materials are printed layer by layer to construct objects, and finally the blueprints on the computer are turned into real objects. In essence, building 3D printing is a technology that comprehensively utilizes a specific combination of engineering technologies such as management, materials, computers and machinery to complete engineering construction.

2. Application Progress of Building 3D Printing Technology in China

In recent years, 3D printing technology has been widely used in machinery manufacturing, aviation, medical and other fields, and gradually expanded to the construction field. 3D printing technology can effectively solve the problems of multiple manual operation, large amounts of templates and difficult realization of complex modeling in traditional construction, and has obvious advantages in personalized design and intelligent building.

2.1 3D Printed Houses

3D Printed Building Hollow Wall

 3D Printed Building Wall

3D Printed 2-Story Office Building in Guangdong

Above are the first 2-storey office project completed in November 2019 in China based on "Contour Crafting" in-situ 3D printing.

Sliding Mode Control 3D Printed Villa

 Assembled 3D Printed Chinese Courtyard and  Assembled 3D Printed Apartment

2.2 3D Printed Bridge Main Structure and Auxiliary Components

Concrete 3D printing is not only applied in building construction, but also suitable for track bridge engineering, especially for printing template of pier stud in bridge engineering and municipal track engineering.

3D Printed Pedestrian Bridge

3D Printed Pedestrian Arch Bridge

3D Printed Bridge Fence

3D printing can not only print the components of formwork, but also the fence railing components, which has good strength and durability.

Traditional Bridge Pier Template (left) and 3D Printed Bridge Pier Template (Right)

 Rail Transit Pillar (Left) and

3D Printed Circular Template (Right)

2.3 3D Printed Public Facilities

Public facilities in cities are generally feature miniaturization and diversification. Compared with traditional mold making, 3D printing has great advantages in building such small buildings. Below are examples of printing some public buildings by building 3D printing technology.

 3D Printed Toilet

3D Printed Garbage Sorting Point (Left)

and Pavilion (Right)

3D Printed Circular Component Diagram (Left) and

Design of 3D Printing Tea Table (Right)

3D Printed Guard Hall (Left) and

3D Printed Toilet Cabin (Right)

These printed public designs are generally small in size and can be hoisted and moved. They are printed and prefabricated according to the needs of different locations in the city, and then directly transported to the site for use.

2.4 3D Printed Large Landscape Components

Below show some large landscape components suitable for 3D printing.

Printable Landscape Sketch (Left) and

3D Printed Landscape Sketch (Right)

3D Printed Landscape Construction

2.5 3D Printed Decoration Envelop Enclosure

Below are decorative members and envelop enclosure printed or designed for 3D printing.

3D Printed Enclosure Components (Left) and

3D Printed Landscape Wall (Right)

3D Printed Fence (Left) and

3D Printed Enclosure Green Wall Design (Right)

3D Printed Enclosure Wall (Left) and

Printed Curved Wall with a Special Shape (Right)

3D Printed Bench (Left) and

3D Printed Table (Right)

3D Printed Lounge Chair (Left) and

3D Printed Park Tables and Chairs (Right)

3D Printed Special-shaped Tree Pool (Left)

and 3D Printed Tree Pool (Right)

3D Printed Tree Pool Diagram (Left) and

3D Printed Landscape Lamp Tube (Right)

  3D Printed Flower Pot and

3D Printed Flowerbed

3D Printed Tree Pool Design and

3D Printed Colored Pond Design

3D Printed Publicity Art Fonts

3D Printed Bench

2.7 3D Printed Mobile Cabin Hospitals for COVID-19 Prevention

COVID-19 prevention and control mobile cabin hospitals in Jiangbei New District, Nanjing, Jiangsu province, developed by Nanjing Jiayi Digital Additive Technology Research Institute has put into use. BIM technology and modular design idea are adopted in the design of the mobile cabin hospitals wall.

3D Printing of COVID-19 Prevention and

Control Mobile Cabin

At present, the architectural 3D printing industry is still in the stage of exploration and cultivation worldwide.

3. The Application Progress of International Building 3D Printing Technology

The United States and Europe took the lead in exploring the application of architectural 3D printing technology, and used various types of 3D printing equipment to print a large number of landscape components and single-story houses. In the past two years, the development of the application of building 3D printing technology is gradually led by Chinese relevant research institutes and enterprises while there are few reports on large-scale 3D printing construction projects in the world.

The Printed Construction Site of Office Buildings

Although there are few large-scale application projects of building 3D printing in the world in recent two years, the basic research in 3D printing equipment and materials in the United States and Europe still has certain advantages over that in China. 3D Printing Concrete Branch will use the platform of CCPA to organize member units to participate in international academic conferences and research and exchange in international excellent equipment and application enterprises, so as to promote the rapid development of China's building 3D printing industry.

4. The Prospect of Building 3D Printing Technology

Building 3D printing technology has important value and significance in environmental protection, construction technology, construction industry and so on. Although building 3D printing has broad application prospects, it is necessary to establish 3D printing construction material system, 3D printing construction equipment system, 3D printing construction standard system and 3D printing construction demonstration engineering system. At the same time, constant  innovation and improvement can perfectly integrate it with the traditional construction technology to complement each other, which is an important direction of the development of building 3D printing technology, promoting the upgrading of the construction industry, and closely combining with the sustainable development of buildings.

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