FMRG: Eco: Process-Structure-Property Relationships of 3D Printed Earth Materials and Structures

未来制造业研究资助（FMRG）生态制造项目将全面表征3D打印地球材料和结构的最佳混合设计，将微结构开发和土壤科学与材料和结构特性表征以及3D打印方法的优化联系起来。地球材料是一种新兴的，可持续的替代胶凝材料，因为它们的低体现碳，可负担性，安全性和热特性。通过使用最少加工的材料和从建筑工地采购原材料，3D打印的地球结构可以大大减少运输，化学处理，过度制造，仓库存储和中间存储，这些都与水泥材料密不可分。使用一系列细菌和生物聚合物粘合剂，以及生物基纤维和纳米纤维增强添加剂，该项目将表征可打印的土基和生物基建筑材料混合物-古代技术的现代化版本-作为建筑环境气候友好型数字制造的关键一步。除了为使用非传统材料的增材制造创造新的科学知识外，该项目还通过为来自边缘化社区的学生开发研究生地球技术课程和课外体验来支持教育和多样性，其中包括动手材料评估，地球住所的数字制造和社群活动。通过一系列全面的优化混合设计开发，新鲜和硬化状态的性能表征将产生有效和可持续的框架，用于改进最终印刷的泥土结构的形状稳定性和层间性能。 拟议的研究首次将以下多尺度调查联系起来，以推进3D打印地球材料和结构的科学和工程：（1）建立3D打印土壤混合物的土壤表征和微结构设计方法，（2）阐明3D打印土壤材料的过程-结构关系和添加剂的作用，包括一系列生物矿化微生物和生物聚合物，新鲜状态特性，（3）表征硬化状态特性，重点是稳定化的替代品，以及（4）推进小型和大型3D打印土结构的加工科学。这项研究和教育工作将有助于更广泛的跨学科范围的定量和定性专业知识，涉及自动化施工，机械，热，和地球材料的环境影响，低碳和负担得起的建筑的关键未来。这个未来制造项目由土木，机械和制造创新（CMMI），工程教育和中心（EEC），该奖项由美国国家科学基金会（NSF）工程局（Directorate of Engineering）的材料研究部（DMR）和工业创新与合作伙伴关系（IIP）以及数学和物理科学局（MPS）的材料研究部（DMR）颁发。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Future Manufacturing Research Grant (FMRG) EcoManufacturing project will comprehensively characterize optimal mix designs for 3D printed earth materials and structures, linking microstructural development and soil science with material and structural property characterization and optimization of 3D printing methods. Earth materials are an emerging, sustainable alternative to cementitious materials because of their low embodied carbon, affordability, safety, and thermal characteristics. By using minimally processed materials and sourcing raw materials from the construction site, 3D-printed earth structures could substantially reduce transportation, chemical treatments, excess manufacturing, warehouse storage, and intermediary storages that are inextricably intertwined with cementitious materials. Using a range of bacterial and biopolymer binding agents, as well as bio-based fibers and nano-fibers reinforcing additives, this project will characterize printable mixtures of earth- and bio-based building materials—modernized versions of ancient technologies—as a critical step for climate-friendly digital manufacturing of the built environment. In addition to creating new scientific knowledge for additive manufacturing using nonconventional materials, this project supports education and diversity by developing a graduate earth-based technology course and an extracurricular experience for students from marginalized communities that includes hands-on materials assessment, digital fabrication of an earth-based shelter, and community activities.Through a comprehensive series of optimized mix design development, fresh- and hardened-state properties characterization will produce an effective and sustainable framework for improved shape stability and interlayer properties of the final printed earth structures. The proposed research links, for the first time, the following multi-scale investigations to advance the science and engineering of 3D printed earth materials and structures: (1) establishing the soil characterization and microstructural design methodologies of 3D printable earth mixtures, (2) elucidating the process-structure relationships of 3D printed earth materials and the effects of additives, including a range of biomineralizing microbes and biopolymers, on fresh-state properties, (3) characterizing the hardened-state properties with a focus on alternatives to stabilization, and (4) advancing the processing science of small- and large-scale 3D printed earthen structures. This research and educational effort will contribute to a broader interdisciplinary scope on quantitative and qualitative expertise related to the automated construction, mechanical, thermal, and environmental impacts of earth materials, a critical future in low-carbon and affordable buildings.This Future Manufacturing project is jointly funded by the Divisions of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), Engineering Education and Centers (EEC), and Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) in the Directorate of Engineering, and by the Division of Materials Research (DMR) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.