An automated system for 3D printing functionally graded concrete-based materials

In recent years, the interest in developing additive manufacturing (AM) technologies in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry has increased, motivated by the potential to support greater formal complexity. In this context, AM has been largely used to design and fabricate physical parts with homogeneous materials. This paper proposes a new strategy, aimed at the design and fabrication of functionally graded concrete parts with specific thermo-mechanical performance. The paper describes the development of the AM system to materialize such parts. The computational tool developed to design the material to meet specific performance requirements, and the design and testing of the material are described elsewhere. A functionally graded concrete part obtained by replacing sand with cork was produced and is evaluated.