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10%），创造了3700亿英镑的营业额，出口了80多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，其生产率低，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，并带来了一个更高效、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，但其在建筑领域的应用仍处于起步阶段。该技术已经通过MX3D桥（2021年7月开放的第一个金属3D打印结构）得到了基本证明，但是仍然存在一些阻碍更广泛采用的障碍。当前的设备和工艺产生的元素在相同的构建和重复构建之间具有显著的材料和几何变化，这对于现实世界的使用来说不是最佳的。此外，适当的印刷设备的有限供应阻碍了对这种新的制造技术的发展及其在建筑部门的应用的研究。ICWAAM将成为全球独一无二的金属3D打印设备，致力于为建筑行业提供大规模、经济高效的应用。它将为打印过程、自动化制造、关键基础设施的维修和升级提供新的研究能力，以及复杂的、材料高效的几何形状的打印，这些都是标准技术不经济或不可能实现的。ICWAAM将从根本上挑战当前建筑行业的理念，并将其转变为一个更具生产力、创新性和可持续性的行业，同时提高工人的安全性。如果没有ICWAAM等大型金属3D打印设备，研究人员就无法进行这一关键的研究和开发，以解决建筑行业长期存在的挑战。

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.