A STUDY ON THE USAGE OF LIMESTONE CLAY- BASED CEMENTITIOUS MATERIAL FOR HIGH- DEFINITION 3D- PRINTING OF ARTEFACTS IN CONSERVATION BUILDINGS

Abstract

Singapore’s diverse history and culture lives in the buildings around us. Much effort has been made to ensure the preservation of Singapore’s identity. The construction and built environment industry play a huge part in ensuring the success of preserving Singapore’s heritage buildings and artefacts and can potentially gain from such projects. Concrete 3D printing offers numerous benefits such as reduced costs, shortened construction times and reduced carbon footprint. This paper aims to discover the possibility of utilising the benefits of concrete 3D printing and applying it towards heritage conservation in Singapore.

With the aim of reducing carbon footprint and moving towards more environmentally friendly construction practices, this paper will also focus on the feasibility of printing limestone clay- based cementitious materials. 3 different limestone clay-based materials were tested against a control mixture to determine the most suitable mixture for 3D printing a highly detailed and intricate artefact from the NUS Baba House. The tests conducted include static yield stress, large amplitude oscillatory stress, tack and extrusion test.

Our results showed that the concrete mixture containing ultra- fine limestone was the most suitable mixture for concrete 3d printing intricate artefacts. The concrete mixture was an ultra- high- performance concrete and the ultra- fine limestone also gave the artefact aesthetic qualities. It indicated the most suitable rheological properties and the extrusion test carried out also determined its feasibility.