Open AccessAdditive Manufacturing of Large Coreless Filament Wound Composite Elements for Building Construction
Author(s) -
Serban Bodea,
Pascal Mindermann,
Götz T. Gresser,
Achim Menges
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
3d printing and additive manufacturing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.917
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2329-7670
pISSN - 2329-7662
DOI - 10.1089/3dp.2020.0346
Subject(s) - automation , mechanical engineering , filament winding , fabrication , process (computing) , fiber , computer science , manufacturing engineering , engineering , composite number , materials science , process engineering , composite material , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , operating system
Digitization and automation are essential tools to increase productivity and close significant added-value deficits in the building industry. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a process that promises to impact all aspects of building construction profoundly. Of special interest in AM is an in-depth understanding of material systems based on their isotropic or anisotropic properties. The presented research focuses on fiber-reinforced polymers, with anisotropic mechanical properties ideally suited for AM applications that include tailored structural reinforcement. This article presents a cyber-physical manufacturing process that enhances existing robotic coreless Filament Winding (FW) methods for glass and carbon fiber-reinforced polymers. Our main contribution is the complete characterization of a feedback-based, sensor-informed application for process monitoring and fabrication data acquisition and analysis. The proposed AM method is verified through the fabrication of a large-scale demonstrator. The main finding is that implementing AM in construction through cyber-physical robotic coreless FW leads to more autonomous prefabrication processes and unlocks upscaling potential. Overall, we conclude that material-system-aware communication and control are essential for the efficient automation and design of fiber-reinforced polymers in future construction.