Progress group Innovation in Large format Binder Jet 3D Printed Construction – 3DPrint.com

There was a lot of hype in the 3D -printed construction, but there was very little innovation. Enrico Dini developed a binder-based process, the contour handicrafts led to a formative extrusion process, and there was work in resins, but mainly people extrudested concrete. The main element of most 3D printed construction systems is a concrete pump that is preserved from commercial providers and is married to a joint drive or a nozzle. In fact, however, the Progress Group of the specific managers in fact do something very interesting.

Progress is an Italian company with a turnover of around 300 million US dollars. It produces software, machines and entire factories especially for concrete concrete. The company has started to produce large concrete slabs for inexpensive construction work, but has a product portfolio that includes MES software, machines and integrated offers with subsidiaries in nine countries. If you need a carousel -like plant or one on a long bed, you have covered it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGetusSp0k

Now the company has published the SPI process-a technology that has developed it especially for 3D printing with a large format. Spi (selective paste intrusion) was developed in Germany in the city of Brixen, in which progress has its 3D printing center. SPI is able to print layers of only 3 mm in a job box each, which measures 4 MX 2.5 mx 1 m. The process was developed to create very precise and detailed parts of the free form and was married to post -processing and transmission equipment.

The company expressly says that,

“3D printing in the construction industry as an expansion of existing possibilities and not as a revolution in concrete production. 3D printing is particularly useful if complex shapes or small batch sizes are required, which can otherwise only be produced at great costs. Applications that have already been realized include facades, balconies, formwork and special prefabricated elements.”

The company also explained that the process “is not a competition for 3D concrete pressure on the construction site. In contrast to the common image of 3D printing houses directly on the construction site, the progress group focuses on the production of concrete concrete elements in the factory. This method offers numerous advantages such as regardless of the weathered, better quality control and optimized working conditions.”

It is always very comforting when companies enter the fight by qualifying their offer instead of screaming unan -houses on the top of their lungs. 3D printed prefabricated elements on site could seriously affect and in themselves in the construction industry. In an article from 2022, we pointed out that for those who hunt and sales chasing, pre -made customer -specific elements in low volumes could be far more attractive. At the same time, I repeat the point of progress here to say that the 3D print on site (especially for remote areas in my head) could give growth, but at the same time and separate the growth in Fe incident. In some cases I would say that they could compete, but these are both immense markets that can be tackled. A small garage could be better produced in a factory, while a large tank may not be able to transport on the street. Maybe that would be better printed on site. In the meantime, both approaches compete with billions in invested capital to do things in old ways.

The enormous innovation here is the creation of a large binder bindle binder process. The combined with a build box and a series of placement of machines enables it in detail that it has an invisible accuracy and throughput through throughput. I turned to the progress to understand more about the process. Each 3 mm layer is injected with a material by inkjet nozzles with the scalability and accuracy of ink beam in large format. First, 1 to 3 mm of dry sand is injected and then injected selectively. Unbound material is a support material that can be recycled.

The company told me that the “contour is formed by the targeted penetration of the paste”. “Overhangs and sensitive structures are clearly possible, since the surrounding particle bed serves as an integrated support structure.” In this way, “freely shaped components can be realized, which would be difficult or very expensive to produce with conventional concrete structures”. As with other technologies, this skipped the formwork steps. It becomes interesting when “with a suitable cement paste and high cavity filling, the compressive strength of up to 78 MPa has been reached after 7 days.” This is remarkable in and of itself, but the progress states that the finished parts also have “a strong performance in freeze-congestion resistance, the mining of salt resistance and the carbon resistance, comparable to conventionally generated concrete”.

The automated bindemet -Jet components had previously had an Achilles -heel, which consisted that the binder and the construction material have different properties when freezing. When I was a materialis in 2011, the former CEO Fried Vancraen always had people who placed 3D printed design parts outside and roof, and they would break without exception if there was frost. If the progress has solved this problem, you could be very good on the way to achieve a real breakthrough in the 3D -printed construction. A higher accuracy and details, coupled with the throughput, could really make this a tool that can be used by its customers on a scale. I really think these are the most exciting news that I have heard in 3D -printed construction work for many years and hope that more progress in global 3D printing technology makes a widespread 3D printing technology.