Bond Strength in 3D Printed Geopolymer Mortar

3D printing is getting significant attention in the construction industry. This technology, which has been talked for years, is now delivering tangible results, however it is not yet ready for mass production in mainstream construction. Thixotropy material, 3D printer together with 3-dimensional computer model are the key elements required for robust concrete printing. For a freshly printed material, the increase in structural buildup at rest, prior to the placement of a successive layer can result poor interlayer bond strength and therefore, in this paper, we aimed to investigate the structuration effect of a nano-clay modified geopolymer, used for 3D concrete printing. Different structuration rate was achieved by changing molar ratio of activator and experimental results conclude that, there exists an optimum printing zone for different molar ratios, beyond which interlayer bond strength will be very weak.