Rheological characterization of temperature-sensitive biopolymer-bound 3D printing concrete

3D concrete printing materials with advanced rheological properties are being developed to realize more structurally optimized and sustainable structures. However, traditional mixtures use large shares of cementitious materials presenting reduced sustainability. In this paper, thermo-reversible mammal gelatin and κ-carrageenan are explored as alternative binders for temperature-controlled concrete printing. Rheological properties were found suitable at solution concentrations of 80–120%-w/v mammal gelatin in a 40%-w/w biopolymer-aggregate composite and 3%-w/v κ-carrageenan in a 50%-w/w composite at temperatures of, respectively, 50 °C and 65 °C. The corresponding yield stress increases from 0.1 to 107kPa under cooling to 20 °C demonstrated good buildability.