Quikrete and Contour Crafting Crack the Code on 3D Printed Construction Using Concrete
The QUIKRETE Companies and the Contour Crafting Corporation (CC Corp) recently entered into a collaboration to develop proprietary concrete used in the automated construction of residential, commercial, industrial and government structures using Contour Crafting technology. Unlike other mortar-based 3D printable products, the advanced concrete mix produced by QUIKRETE is formulated to include coarse aggregate specifically for use with CC Corp’s proprietary 3D printing system. The first true 3D printing concrete makes building high-quality customized structures fast, efficient and affordable.
CC Corp has lead the charge to obtain regulatory acceptance for this innovative construction technique, successfully sheparding Acceptance Criteria AC509 (for 3D printed concrete walls) through the rigorous ICC-ES approval process. The new concrete under development by QUIKRETE addresses key requirements for printability and constructability, including shape-holding thixotropic properties as well as rapid setting and dimensional stability features. With the initial goal of providing low-income housing and homes for disaster relief, a 2,000 square-foot house can potentially be built in few days, not weeks, for a fraction of the cost of traditional construction. This is accomplished by dispensing the QUIKRETE concrete in layers using CC Corp’s 3D printing technology according to digital architectural models.