3D-printed steel reinforcement for digital concrete construction – Manufacture, mechanical properties and bond behaviour

Abstract Digital concrete construction has recently become the subject of very rapidly growing research activities all over the world. Various technologies involving 3D-printing with concrete have been developed, and the number of demonstration projects and practical applications has been increasing exponentially. Most of these approaches are focused on the placement of concrete, while the suggested solutions for incorporation of reinforcement are still rudimentary, and as such they lag behind the concepts for printing concrete. Since the use of (steel) reinforcement is mandatory in most structural applications, there is an urgent need to bring the technology of reinforcing 3D-printed structural elements forward. The article starts with a brief overview of the existing approaches in using reinforcement in digital concrete construction. Then the authors’ own research work is presented, namely a feasibility study on 3D-printing of steel reinforcement using gas-metal arc welding. A description of the newly developed 3D-printing process is followed by a demonstration of its feasibility in producing vertical steel reinforcement bars with and without extra ribs. The mechanical performance of the printed bars was investigated by means of uniaxial tension tests. The samples exhibited comparable mechanical properties to common steel reinforcement of the same diameter. The investigation of fracture surfaces confirmed a ductile mode of failure of the printed steel bars. Finally, the bond between printed steel bars and printable fine-grained concrete was tested by means of pull-out experiments. Here the overall performance could be rated as satisfactory, even though it could be improved by introducing extra ribs in the process of bar manufacturing.