Concrete printing in 3D has a future in the near term, with commercial applications coming in a couple of years, predict researchers in the U.K.
Richard Buswell, senior lecturer in building-services engineering at Loughborough University, spent four years on a team developing a computer-controlled process for producing complicated concrete elements not possible by traditional means. The $2-million project, completed in 2011, produced a series of 1-meter-sq, curved panels with internal voids, made with high-strength mortar extruded and placed with a three-axis frame.