Metal 3D printing facility for the construction sector (ICWAAM)

建筑业对英国经济具有重要的战略意义，雇佣了310万人（占劳动力的9%），创造了3700亿英镑的营业额，出口了超过80亿英镑的产品和服务。然而，其目前的理念是资源和成本效率低下，环境不可持续，生产力低下，技术采用缓慢，倾向于拆除和重建。金属3D打印为解决这些挑战提供了机会，并带来了更高效，更创新和可持续的建筑行业。金属3D打印技术已经改变了其他工程学科，包括生物医学和航空领域，而其在建筑领域的应用仍处于起步阶段。该技术已通过MX3D Bridge得到了根本性的证明，MX3D Bridge是2021年7月开放的第一个金属3D打印结构，但仍有一些障碍阻碍了更广泛的采用。当前的设备和工艺生产的元件在同一构建内和重复构建之间具有显著的材料和几何可变性，这对于现实世界的使用不是最佳的。此外，合适的打印设备有限，阻碍了对这种新型制造技术的开发及其在建筑行业的应用的研究。ICWAAM将成为全球唯一的金属3D打印设施，致力于为建筑行业提供大规模，具有成本效益的应用。它将提供新的研究能力，进入印刷过程，自动化制造和维修和升级我们的关键基础设施，沿着印刷复杂，材料效率高的几何形状，这是不经济的或不可能的标准技术。ICWAAM将从根本上挑战建筑业的当前理念，并导致其转变为一个更具生产力，创新和可持续性的部门，提高工人安全。如果没有直接获得大型金属3D打印设备，如ICWAAM，研究人员就无法进行这一关键的研究和开发，以解决建筑领域长期存在的挑战。

The construction sector is strategically important to the UK economy, employing 3.1 million people (>9% of the workforce), producing £370 billion in turnover, and exporting more than £8 billion in products and services. However, its current philosophy is resource and cost inefficient and environmentally unsustainable, through its low productivity, slow technology adoption and tendency to demolish and rebuild. Metal 3D printing offers opportunities to solve these challenges and lead to a more productive, innovative and sustainable construction sector.Metal 3D printing technology has transformed other engineering disciplines, including the biomedical and aeronautical sectors, while its application within the construction sector is still in its infancy. The technology has been fundamentally proven through the MX3D Bridge, the first metal 3D printed structure that was opened in July 2021, however there are still a number of barriers preventing more widespread adoption. Current equipment and processes produce elements that have significant material and geometric variability, within the same build and between repeated builds, which is not optimal for real-world use. Furthermore, the limited availability of suitable printing equipment has prevented research into the development of this novel manufacturing technique and its applications to the construction sector.ICWAAM will be a globally unique metal 3D printing facility, dedicated to large-scale, cost-effective applications for the construction sector. It will offer new research capabilities into the printing process, automated manufacture and the repair and upgrade of our critical infrastructure, along with the printing of complex, materially efficient geometries, which are uneconomical or impossible with standard techniques. ICWAAM will fundamentally challenge the current philosophy of the construction industry and lead to its transformation into a more productive, innovative and sustainable sector, with increased worker safety. Without direct access to large-scale metal 3D printing equipment, such as ICWAAM, researchers are unable to undertake this critical research and development, to solve the longstanding challenges in the construction sector.