Biomimetic building of 3D printed tailored structures

3D printing is changing the whole manufacturing concept of components and products. The freedom of design in 3D printing opens new ways to produce structures with advanced properties. Additive manufacturing is nowadays utilised in some industrial applications, however, there is a need to develop new materials with high quality properties. New tailored materials and optimised 3D printing techniques will make the utilisation of additive manufacturing possible in many new applications. In this project, the biomimetic multi-scale hierarchical approach was the inspiration for design of materials and structures. In macro to micro-level, the project focused on utilising advanced functional printing technologies in the development of new kinds of ceramic- and cement-based materials with high specific strength. In addition, some organic materials were produced and printed In micro to nano-level, the formation of cementitious materials was studied, and routes for controlling the crystal growth were examined. The experimental part of the project consisted of production of printable paste-like materials, numerous 3D printing trials and crystal growth manipulation experiments. Results of the project showed the controlling of crystal growth in some extent possible in nano and micro-level. The development of paste materials made the printing of structures possible and the strength of the cement samples with large volumetric porosity was at the same level than that of the casted samples. The result indicates that a structurally designed material possesses far higher strength than materials with random porosity and 3D printing proved to be a viable method for the manufacturing of such material. The work will be continued in additive manufacturing platform at VTT.