Many of the 3D printing houses and structures we see are made of concrete, which, frankly, is a bit unpleasant. It is not so difficult to make a big square with concrete. Although we are sure that there are some advantages, it is not overwhelming. Andycoward obviously felt the same way and began to look for ways in which 3D printing could provide unique advantages in building structures. The result is that it is difficult to generate light beams with traditional technology, but it is easy to generate light beams with printers. Its advantage is that it uses 78% less concrete than traditional beams with the same performance.
The key is that in normal beams, not much concrete is subjected to significant loads. It’s right there, because you need to use some concrete on one side of the beam, and then more concrete on the other side. Surprisingly, there is little concrete to support anything in the middle. The new beam takes advantage of this and adds reinforcement at strategic points. However, it uses 70% less steel than a typical reinforced beam.
There are many advantages to reducing the amount of materials. These include reducing transportation costs and reducing carbon emissions. The beams also have built-in voids for electrical and water services. You can see a good chart on MiniMass’s website to show how this all works. Of course, removing unwanted materials is not a new technology. We often see it in Metal 3D printing.