This collaborative project is to use additive manufacturing (3D printing) to engineer the microstructure of cement-based materials and fabricate cement-based structures with otherwise unachievable, controlled local composition of the material and spatial arrangement of its components. The goal of the research is to understand the major factors controlling the 3D printing process of cement-based materials and how to design interfacial interactions between printed filament layers and between filament inclusions and solid matrix phases. Though the use of additive manufacturing, the proposed research project has the potential to enable significant progress in the fields of high-performance infrastructure materials by providing materials that exhibit paradigm-shifting properties allowing new functionalities that are not achievable with existing materials. Ultimately, the 3-D printing processes will enable the fabrication of light-weight and modular structures and buildings for rapid deployment in cases of natural disasters and product applications wherein cement-based materials have not previously been competitive. The educational component will leverage existing programs of each of the three institutions and includes the development of instructional materials for undergraduate and graduate students and research opportunities for a diverse group of undergraduate students.
The goal of this collaborative research is to fundamentally understand (1) the intertwined mechanisms between chemistry, printed filament layer solidification, and 3D printing successive-layering-deposition process conditions and (2) the interfacial interactions between printed layers that control the bonding mechanism. 3-D printing is anticipated to enable the controlled spatial variation of material properties through continuous gradients in functional components. Experimental investigations of the filament layer solidification process and of the interfacial characteristics will be integrated with computational analysis, including molecular dynamics simulations of the molecular scale structure, energetics, and mechanical properties of the inter-filament and interfaces to unravel the physico-chemo-mechanical mechanisms that underpin the processing/manufacturing-microstructure-property relationship of the architectured materials. The research will (1) provide a molecular to nanoscale picture of the chemo-mechanical interactions between filament layers and between the filament inclusions and matrix interfaces, (2) identify key aspects of the structure at interfaces necessary to enable refinement of surfaces and printing media chemistry, and (3) provide insights into the development of a new approach to understanding and developing cementitious systems.
