Mechanical performance of 3D Printed fiber reinforced concrete

3D Printing has been gaining exponential growth in the construction field. Many challenges have been overcome at both material and processing levels of this technology. However, the reinforcement topic must still be resolved to meet the structural requirements of concrete elements. Otherwise, the lack of reinforcement will limit its evolution. Preliminary studies showed the feasibility of using fibers to reinforce printed elements, even though a lot of technical challenges must be carefully addressed. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of working with different types of synthetic and metallic fibers and to characterize the mechanical performance of the chosen ones. Consequently, very promising results were found using concrete inks, combined with different dosages and geometries of fibers. The findings evidence that 3D printed fiber reinforced concrete can reach high levels of ductility, and thus, fibers can replace rebars under certain conditions. The authors' goal at large in this study is to share learnings that will help emphasize the potential of fiber-reinforced 3D printing concrete with material properties that could open the door to more structural applications.