formwax
Category: research
Location: barcelona, spain
year: 2020
status: Finished
Formwax is a project that will help the construction industry to overcome geometrical limitations in 3d printing by using wax. This novel methodology will help the construction industry to take full advantage of 3d printing technology.
Additive manufacturing technology has evolved over the past decade and it keeps evolving. Yet, the construction industry cannot take full advantage of additive manufacturing. Only simple geometries can be printed due to support limitations. Formwax offers a reusable wax mixture that acts as a support. With the help of a mixture of wax and cellulose, a dynamic fabrication protocol is created, helping designers to overcome current fabrication limitations. It creates new opportunities to fabricate more complex shapes.
extruder design
dual extruder
This is the dual extrusion system where we can 3d print wax and concrete. Since we have full control of the material deposition. We can use this system to cast by increasing the flow rate. So now with this system, we can have 4 fabrication types, casting and 3d printing both wax and concrete.
design process
In Order to show the full potential of this fabrication process, an agent-based design was made using advanced computational design tools. This is a design that is very expensive and hard to fabricate with traditional fabrication techniques.
fabrication protocol
To fabricate this complex shape there are 4 parts. First, the outer shell is 3d printed with the wax and cellulose mixture. Second, is the inner shell which is the formwork for concrete. Third, is the poured paraffin wax to reinforce the inner shell to prevent cracking under the pressure of concrete. It is poured between the outer shell and inner shell formworks. The last one is the concrete that we pour into the inner shell formwork.
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