What is the correct term for 3D printing of concrete?
There are several solutions that currently can 3D print concrete, including options from COBOD, ICON and several others. All of these systems involve extruding a specialized mix of concrete through a nozzle that’s attached to a 3D motion system. It’s possible to build large permanent structures using this tech, and there have been many instances of bridges, homes and even multi-story buildings being printed.
But what, exactly, do you call this technology?
The term I’ve been using for the past few years is “construction 3D printing”, as that term accounts for varying types of extrusion material.
I’ve seen a variety of other terms used, such as “concrete printing”, or “C3DP” (Concrete 3D printing), and other variations. There’s also proprietary terminology used by 3D printer manufacturers to refer to their peculiar approach to the technology. Those, however, aren’t really going to become the common generic term for this technology.
Lately I’ve seen an acronym appearing more frequently: 3DCP, or “3D concrete printing”.
Could this be the “winner”?
I recall years ago when I started this publication. Back then the technology existed, but there were not yet accepted terms to describe it. We did have FDM, from Stratasys, for example, but it was trademarked and could not become generic.
Instead after a few years the space landed on two terms: 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing. Today these are used interchangeably, although “AM” is more often used when referring to industrial or production activities, while “3DP” is more often used with desktop printing activities. But there’s no rules.
Regarding concrete printing, I believe we are now in that same state where the industry will eventually land on an accepted term or terms for the tech.
I asked ChatGPT for some variations that could be considered, and it came up with some interesting options:
- 3D Concrete Construction (3DCC)
- Automated Concrete Printing (ACP)
- Digital Concrete Fabrication (DCF)
- Concrete Additive Manufacturing (CAM)
- Layered Concrete Construction (LCC)
- Robotic Concrete Printing (RCP)
- Concrete Layering Technology (CLT)
- Precision Concrete Printing (PCP)
- Advanced Concrete Printing (ACP)
- Concrete Digital Construction (CDC)
- Smart Concrete Printing (SCP)
- NextGen Concrete Printing (NCP)
- Structural Concrete Printing (SCP)
- Modular Concrete Printing (MCP)
- High-Resolution Concrete Printing (HRCP)
While some of these sound pretty good, unfortunately none of them seem to be in use. They’re not likely to become the generic industry term.
Will it end up being “3DCP”? I believe this one might stand above the others because it’s short, easy to read & speak, and almost rhymes. And it seems to be used more frequently.
I went to Google Trends to see whether this is the case. Unfortunately, all of these terms are still of such low use that even Google doesn’t have statistics that demonstrate any trend.
Maybe it will take a few more years to settle this question.
