3D printed bioplastic: the future of construction?
Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is a major part of the fourth industrial revolution and it will transform the construction sector, according to Zoubeir Lafhaj, an expert in the future of construction, from the graduate engineering school École Centrale de Lille, in France. “3D printing is a formidable tool to introduce robotisation into construction, and other kinds of innovation,” he explains. Lafhaj adds that it will also help tackle environmental issues such as reducing waste. Currently, most 3D printed construction projects use concrete, but Lafhaj is certain that is not the future. He says we need to move towards materials that use less energy, have a lower carbon footprint and produce less waste. Plastic is a good alternative because it is more environmentally friendly than concrete, Lafhaj says, but it also has another advantage. In dense urban environments, such as cities like Tokyo, it can be much easier and cheaper to import and move around. “In some areas in Japan there are not a lot of streets where you can construct new buildings,” he explains. “They need new materials that can be brought in without big machines.” Examples of 3D printed construction using bioplastics can be seen on the canal-side site of Dus Architecture in Amsterdam. “We have entire 3D printed tiny houses, all kinds of staircases and walls standing here,” says Hedwig Heinsman, co-founder of the company. “It looks like a modern-day ruin.” A full-sized, 700m2 canal house is being 3D printed out of bio-based plastic on the site. One day the structure will be the firm's offices and workspace. But this project is what the architects call “research & design by doing”, hence all the small prototype houses and bits of buildings. The company has also tested its additive manufacturing technology elsewhere in Amsterdam. In 2015 it unveiled an 8m2 urban cabin that had been made using a black bio-based plastic – complete with printed outdoor bath tub. And they printed a massive 3D façade for the building that hosted the Netherlands' 6-month EU Presidency in 2016. Heinsman says that one of the major advantages of this type of construction is that it produces very little waste. “On an average building project you have about 25% material waste,” she explains. “With printing we really only use the material that we actually need.” And if you make a mistake? The plastic can be shredded and reused. The plastic being used to create the canal house is more than 50% bio-based (from linseed oil). An enormous printer heats it to produce streams of molten polymers and then layers them on top of each other to create the desired shape. The machine can construct building elements that are up to 5m tall. Once finished, these large segments are slotted together to create the final structure. “It is really done like a conventional building, because a conventional building is built with lots of different components – you have staircases, you have columns, you have walls – the difference is we produce those components with 3D printing technology,” explains Heinsman. Ultimately the architects see additive manufacturing being used to mass produce, customisable prefab architecture. “Prefab is a great way of building because it is fast and clean, but it is also very standardised,” says Heinsman. “What we now offer is the advantages of large scale industrial production with the advantages of tailor made production, because we print with robots and bio-plastics.” Read more: www.allthings.bio/3d-printed-bioplastic-the-future-of-construction/
Keywords
bioplastics, construction, bio-based materials, waste
Countries
France, Netherlands