"The vast majority of floor trusses in homes are made with wood, at least in part due to its strength, light weight, cost efficiency and ease of installation. Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are taking an alternative approach. The research team is exploring the use of another building material one that they say could provide a low-cost, sustainable alternative as the need for more housing grows exponentially across the globe."
"Engineers from the MIT HAUS (Homes Architecture Universal Sustainability) team published a paper earlier this month announcing that they designed and delivered a prototyped 3D-printed floor truss system made from recycled plastic. The team also wants to use recycled plastic to create construction-grade beams and other structural elements using the same 3D printing method. The researchers report that they can use recycled dirty plastic, which can be reused without cleaning or preprocessing."
"The MIT team is using large-scale additive manufacturing i.e. 3D printing to develop and test the effectiveness of plastic floor trusses, which are designed to look similar to conventional floor trusses. Before printing full-scale parts, the team prototypes and runs tests and simulations to ensure the design is robust and minimizes material use. The team produces the trusses using an industrial-scale 3D printer that melts recycled plastic mixed with glass fibers and extrudes it layer by layer."
Most floor trusses are wood because of strength, light weight, cost efficiency, and ease of installation. MIT HAUS researchers developed a prototyped 3D-printed floor truss system made from recycled dirty plastic that requires no cleaning or preprocessing. The trusses are printed as continuous pieces using an industrial-scale printer that melts recycled plastic mixed with glass fibers, fusing joints without bolts or connectors. Engineers assemble four trusses into floor panels and test them under load to comply with residential building standards. Designs are prototyped and simulated to ensure robustness and material efficiency, aiming to repurpose waste and reduce deforestation.
Read at www.housingwire.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]