scalingUp

Drymix Mortar Yearbook

3D Special
Editor: Ferdinand Leopolder

Published on Occasion of
The Interdisciplinary Symposium on Printable Mortars
scalingUp3D, 27. - 28. June 2019, Austria

ISBN 978-3-9821114-0-7
Formulating 3D Printing Mortars

FORMULATING 3D-PRINTING MORTARS WITH

POLYMER BINDERS AND SYNTHETIC FIBERS
KLAUS BONIN,
Wacker Chemie AG, Burghausen Germany

Abstract Polymer binders are used to improve adhesion to the

substrate and to lower the modulus of elasticity. Samples
Fibers have been used in mortars and concrete for many for pull-out testing were prepared to study the interaction
years now, particularly to prevent cracks from developing of the polymer binder with the fiber at the interface of the
due to deformation energy or drying shrinkage. The type lower layer of freshly prepared and partially cured mortar
of fiber to be used is selected based on the application’s and to determine whether polymer-containing mortar
requirements. Synthetic fibers are available in different demonstrates better adhesion to the fiber, thus increasing
structures and chemical compositions with the aim of the pull-out force and the desired modulus of elasticity.
achieving high pull-out resistance via fiber surface
anchorage. Based on the typical material properties, The study showed very strong interaction between the
suppliers of fiber technologies develop the optimum polymer fibers and the VAE polymer used. It was possible
geometry to achieve the best bonding. to increase the relative pull-out force from 1 for the
reference samples to 1.48 (+50%) for the polymer-modi-
The use of fibers in construction materials is current fied mortar. The polymer binder has a high affinity for the
practice, particularly when it comes to short-cut fibers. polymer fiber material, thereby enabling the production of
a composite material that clearly surpasses the mechanical
Short-cut polymer fibers are normally used to protect the anchorage to the lower layer and the final tensile strength
mortar from shrinkage cracks and change the rheology of and stability of a printed structure. If composites are
the mortar. In machine-applied mortars – especially generated by adding polymer binder, the system can be
extrudable mortars for 3D printing – this rheology change considered to be more robust. Systems that are more
has to be well controlled. The addition of synthetic fibers robust are user friendly and facilitate better structures.
can be expected to improve properties for the 3D-printing Although the fine concrete formulation used as a reference
process in the following ways: high initial stiffness (green can be seen as representative, it does show a direct
strength) of the freshly applied mortar strand, good comparison with what one could expect from the weaker
cohesion during curing and a denser matrix and flexural interface of printed mortar layers.
strength of the hardened material.

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1. Introduction

Macro-fibers have been used in concrete for many years

now, particularly to prevent cracks from developing in the
concrete due to deformation energy. Depending on the
building project and its requirements, they are provided to
the customer in different designs. As is usually the case with
standard concrete applications, the fibers are added to the
concrete as it is mixed. This can either be a wet or a dry
concrete mix design (fiber-reinforced concrete or FRC). FRC’s
functional principle is to mechanically anchor the polymer
fibers in the dense matrix of the binder or concrete.

Synthetic fibers serve the following functions:

– Lending shape to the modeled surface structures

– Achieving high pull-out resistance via mechanical

anchorage. Image 1: Cross-section and surface of a polypropylene fiber,
enlarged, SEM; 60x used fiber (BarChip® 65).
Based on the typical material properties, suppliers of
macro-fiber technologies develop the best geometry to
achieve an optimum composite structure (image 1). Printable concrete application primarily differs from poured
concrete in its composition, especially with regard to the
Due to the different handling of these concretes in use, the maximum grain size. In printing concrete, the diameter is
fibers are also influenced in their alignment in the construc- usually less than 4 mm, while for standard casting concrete,
tion material. For standard concrete, the fibers’ orientation in it’s above 8 mm. In practice, either an accelerator is added to
space is three-dimensional, i.e. the fibers are spread out in all the pumped concrete at the nozzle, or the formulation has
directions (x, y and z axes). Statistically, the effective range of already been accelerated. This is the typical procedure for
a fiber is equivalent to that of a sphere with a diameter equal dry-mix concrete; special binders are used here as well.
to the fiber length. Only when the spatial orientations of the Acceleration has technical advantages. It guarantees rapid
spheres overlap can a load distribution be achieved – this strength development, which can occur after only a few
can be obtained with a sufficiently high amount of fibers. seconds.
The distribution is arbitrary and only dependent on how the
mold is filled. Since, at most, half of the fiber length is Fiber dosage in the concrete varies considerably, depending
effective, the sphere’s radius can also be taken as the on the material. The following dosage can be taken as a
effective range. guide value: 5 kg/m³ for synthetic fibers.

TABLE 1. FIBER TYPE

Fiber Type Fiber Weight in g Typical Dosage kg/m³ Number of Fibers per m³
(Manufacturer Specifications)
Polymer (BarChip 65) 0.0274 5 182,482

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2. Goal of the Study

The use of fibers in construction materials is current practice,

particularly when it comes to short-cut fibers. Short-cut
polymer fibers are normally used to protect the concrete
shell in the event of a fire. Polymer binders are used to
improve adhesion to the substrate and to lower the modulus
of elasticity. This new test method investigates the effect of
polymer binders on the bonding of fibers in concrete. It was
used to determine whether polymer-containing concrete
demonstrates better adhesion to the fiber, thus increasing
the pull-out force.

3. Uniaxial Testing of Fiber Pull-Out Force

The factors that influence the quality of the manufacture of

Figure 1 and 2: Schematic crack development: fibers are distributed
the required test pieces include the nozzle, the printing in the mix and can never be located in the optimum position,
technology, early strength development and the fiber regardless of whether tensile or bending stress is applied.
material itself. Every single one of these factors can signifi-
cantly influence the quality of the results. A measurement
set-up on a laboratory scale could improve the quality of the Due to the material properties and the forces that were
data available on the fiber material’s basic properties and is expected to arise, reduction of the necessary variables to a
an objective of this work. In developing products for the simple test method based on EN 14891 was an obvious
application of pumped concrete, it is essential to have a test choice. The aim for developing the test method itself was to
method that makes comparative results possible. Compara- use as few fibers as possible initially, ideally only one. Since
tive means being able, with as low a standard deviation as we were working with macro-fibers (length, L = 30 - 60 mm),
possible, to differentiate between different products or we were able to position these centrally within the test
formulations. This approach also has economic advantages, piece, making a uniaxial tensile test possible (x axis from
because the fabrication of large test specimens is consider- X-0.5 to X+0.5, whereby, along the x axis, ±0 represents the
ably more time-consuming and cost-intensive than a fiber center X0 or 0.5 x L).
reduction of the test to laboratory scale.

One of the challenges encountered in developing the test

method was finding a suitable mold for making the test
piece. So-called “dog bone” test pieces are well-known, but a
drawback associated with them is that they have to be
mounted with a high contact pressure, which means that
damage in the clamping-jaw region cannot be ruled out.
Based on experience with other applications, we further-
more knew that the modified area – a fiber in this case – is
reinforced and that the risk of the fracture occurring outside
the fiber-reinforced zone was high.
Figure 3: Spherical
model of the
three-dimensional
orientation possibili-
ties for a fiber of
length Lges.

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Since the anchorage of the fiber and not the mechanical
strength of the concrete material was to be tested, the test
piece was split at X0 during preparation. A 10-mm-thick PE
foam pad was used for the splitting. This PE foam pad served
as a divider between the two test-piece halves to be poured
and also made it possible to position the fiber exactly in the
middle. Based on EN 14891, the test piece had the following
dimensions: width of 160 mm, height of 40 mm and
thickness of 12 mm (15 mm at the ends). The fiber was
located in the center at a height of 20 mm and depth of
6 mm in each case. The mounted length of the fiber half in
the test piece is reduced by 5 mm per test-piece half due
to the foam. One mold was able to accommodate 6 test
pieces, which could thus be produced in a single batch at
the same time. This has a positive effect both on the
Figure 4: Depiction of the PE foam pad with built-in fiber, prepared
statistical evaluation and on error prevention. for use in the test piece in the mold (A) and description of splitting
into Lges = 2 x ½ L.

Figure 5a on the left: Central splitting of the test piece with the PE foam divider. Figure 5b on the right: Mold A (6a) filled with fine printing concrete.

The test piece described in EN 14891 has a T-shaped

widening at the ends that allows the clamping jaws of the
tensile tester to be fitted with minimum contact pressure.
The subsequently conducted tensile test was performed at a
test rate of 5 mm/min, the force was measured in Newtons.

Figure 6 on the left:

Test piece after
stripping; the fiber is
embedded in the
center of the test piece
and stabilized by
polyethylene foam.

Figure 7 on the right:

Fiber pulled out of the
test-piece halves, near
the end of the
measurement.

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4. RESULTS

4.1 Test Mixture

To simplify the testing conditions, no coarse aggregates

were used. The compressive strength was measured on
identical test pieces, which were also used in the tensile
tests. The dimensions were: width of 40 mm, height of 40
mm and depth of 12 mm. This procedure reflected the
strength generated under the testing conditions. The
mixture was prepared with the addition of water in the Toni
mixer. The fine concrete mixture was premixed dry and all
water-based additives such as the polymer binder and any
other auxiliary materials used were added to the water and
then poured into the prepared mold (A) and stored at 23 °C
and 50% relative humidity until the test (1 day in the mold
(A) and then stripped).

TABLE 2: COMPOSITION OF THE FINE CONCRETE MIXTURES

Formulation for the Fiber Pull-Out Test Quantity Without Polymer With Polymer Binder
Portland cement: Milke CEM 42.5 N g 400 400
Quartz sand: H 33 (grain size 0 - 0.5 mm) g 1,000 1,000
Carbonate filler: Omyacarb 5 GU (5 µm / D50%) g 775 775
Thickener: Kelco-Crete DGF g 0.1 0.1
Polymer binder: VAE (solids content: 50%) g 0 40
10% of cement
Plasticizer: Melflux 2651 F (BASF) g 4 4
Total g 2,179.1 2,219.1
Water/cement ratio 0.775 0.775
(w/c, water from polymer taken into account)
Compressive strength on 12 mm x 40 mm x 40 mm N/mm² 19.28 19.51
± 2.71 ± 2.81

4.2 Synthetic Fiber

The reference value of the single fiber (tested in the same

test equipment) was found to be 275.72 ± 0.08 N; this is the
maximum force to be achieved in the test.

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 TABLE 3: MEASURED VALUES

Fiber Type BarChip 56 Polymer Polymer

Modification Without polymer With polymer
Fmax (force in Newtons) F N 166.83 210.03
Fmax (path at Fmax) W mm 2.8 3.3
(m) (0.0028) (0.0033)
Standard deviation (Newtons) s N 22.98 21.32
Number of test pieces n 6 6
Initial energy (force x path: F x W x Fk)
Fk= area correction factor (0.6) J J 0.280274 0.415859
Improvement (without polymer = 1) 1 1.48

5. Discussion 6. Outlook

The tests show that there was very strong interaction Unlike the point loading of a panel test, for instance,
between the polymer fibers and the VAE polymer used. It determination of the pull-out energy of an individual fiber
was possible to increase the relative pull-out force from 1 for allows for a conclusion to be drawn about planar loading,
the reference concrete to 1.48 (+50%) for the polymer because the total energy content of a given concrete
concrete. The polymer binder has a high affinity for the fiber compound can be specified. The three-dimensional orienta-
material, thereby enabling the production of a composite tion of the fibers is also known, as the pumping process
material that clearly surpasses the mechanical anchorage to, orients the fibers in the direction of flow, and the potential
or embedding in, the concrete. If composites are generated total energy of a printed area can be calculated.
by adding 10% polymer binder, the system can also be
considered to be more robust. Systems that are more robust
are user friendly and facilitate better structures. Although 7. References
the fine concrete formulation used does not claim to
represent a printed concrete, it does, in a direct comparison, Dr. Gerhard Pittino, Dr. Georg Geier, Laura Fritz, Dr. Markus
show what can be expected from a weak printed concrete. Hadwiger, Joerdis Rosc, Dr. Thomas Pabel, (2011) “Computer-
tomographic Investigation of Steel Fibre Reinforced Sprayed
The use of polymer contents of less than 10% had a signifi- Concrete Using Multi-Dimensional Transfer Functions,”
cant influence on the pull-out energy for the synthetic fibers; Beton- und Stahlbetonbau, Volume 106, Issue 6, Pages
a considerable increase was achieved both at peak height 364–370.
and on the path to reaching Fmax, which means that the
test piece takes up more energy. EN 14488-7 (2005): “Testing sprayed concrete. Fibre content
of fibre reinforced concrete”

ASTM C1550, “Standard Test Method for Flexural Toughness

of Fiber Reinforced Concrete (Using Centrally Loaded Round
Panel)”

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