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3-D printing 'greener' buildings using local soil:
The construction industry is currently facing two major challenges: the demand for sustainable infrastructure and the need to repair deteriorating buildings, bridges and roads. While concrete is the material of choice for many construction projects, it has a large carbon footprint, resulting in high waste and energy expenditure. Today, researchers report progress toward a sustainable building material made from local soil, using a 3-D printer to create a load-bearing structure.
[...] The researchers began by collecting soil samples from a colleague's backyard and tailoring the material with a new environmentally friendly additive so that it would bind together and be easily extruded through the 3-D printer. Because soils vary greatly by location, their aim was to have a chemistry "toolkit" that could transform any type of soil into printable building material. From there Bajpayee built small-scale test structures, cubes measuring two inches on each side, to see how the material performed when extruded into stacked layers.
The next step was to ensure that the mixture is load bearing, meaning that it will stand up to the weight of the layers but also other materials used in construction such as rebar and insulation. To help with this, the researchers strengthened the clay mixture by "zippering" the microscopic layers on its surface to prevent it from absorbing water and expanding, which would compromise the printed structure. With this method, the researchers showed that the material could hold twice as much weight as the unmodified clay mixture.
Journal Reference:
Aayushi Bajpayee, Mehdi Farahbakhsh, Umme Zakira, et al. In situ Resource Utilization and Reconfiguration of Soils Into Construction Materials for the Additive Manufacturing of Buildings, frontiers in materials (2020) 7:52. DOI: 10.3389/fmats.2020.00052
The approach is thought to both lower the environmental footprint of construction on Earth and model how construction can be effected on the Moon or Mars.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday August 21 2020, @07:23PM (1 child)
Easier said then done if you are at the top of the world and at least half the year has snow and rain. At least there is plenty of wood and stone.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 21 2020, @07:34PM
For now. Until the AGW takes over, that is (very large grin)
Did I suggested you to build one underwater?
Actually it is easy to do it, just use just a tad wider roofs and paint the walls in oil paint.
My grandparents' house was build from the mud bricks on top of a thin concrete foundation. It was better thermally insulated than all the apartments I lived in until now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford