The objective of this paper is to propose a pre-experimental framework of printability pre-assessment of cementitious materials. This study firstly presents a general review of additive manufacturing in construction and then examines the main characteristic of the material formulation and printability properties based on extrusion technique. This framework comes with experimental tests to determine a qualitative printability index of mixtures. It uses mix-designs reported in the literature to define interval ratio of mixture design to be investigated in this study. The focus was put on two criteria that influence the formulation namely flowability and buildability. Two practiced based tests, mini slump and cone penetrometer, were used to draw the flowability and buildability dimensionless index. The results were analyzed by introducing an optimal printability coefficient and examining their time evolution. An optimal time of printing was determined Toptimal. Finally, a 3D mortar printing system and its operational process are presented. Then, based on the measurement, the optimal mixture is identified and printed in a large-scale geometry.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.