On the Fabric of a 3D Printed Soil

Abstract

3D printing of earthen materials is on the rise in the field of Additive Manufacturing (AM) due to the opportunity this technique offers to realize structures and manufacts with low environmental impacts, but very little is known about the hydromechanical behavior of soils made with this innovative process. Soils prepared by AM typically present a well-marked double-structured fabric; the characterization of the different structural levels is needed to improve the creation and, consequently, the hydromechanical behavior of 3D printed soils. In this study a simple procedure to estimate the index properties of a 3D printed soil is presented. Then, by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP), it was possible to take a closer look to the fabric of a 3D-printed soil, highlighting the link between microstructure and the printing process.