Effect of Spray-Based Printing Parameters on Cementitious Material Distribution

In the past decade, 3D printing is getting into more and more industry areas including building and construction. However, most 3D cementitious material printing processes are limited in horizontal printing surface. Due to the nature of building and construction industry, 3D spray cementitious material printing process was developed to apply material in vertical or even overhang surfaces. Unlike traditional manually operated spray method in building and construction industry, 3D spray cementitious material printing process requires higher accuracy on material distribution. In this paper, the effects of four printing parameters (cementitious material flow rate, air flow rate, nozzle travel speed, nozzle standoff distance) on material distribution in 3D spray cementitious material printing process were investigated experimentally. An experimental model, which can be further used in the control of 3D spray cementitious material printing process, was then developed upon on the results.