3D printing of limestone-calcined clay cement: A review of its potential implementation in the construction industry

The rapid development in 3D printing applications requires exploring a sustainable printable mixture to decrease the environmental impact induced by the existing Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) mixtures and enable 3D printing technology to reach its peak efficiency. The high-volume substitution of OPC with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) is of significant interest as a promising solution for developing low-carbon feedstock for 3D printing. Yet, those materials share the problem of limited availability. The combination of limestone and calcined clay could be a promising alternative, offering various benefits, including replacing OPC in high ratios. This paper reviews 3D printable limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) mixtures, compositions, and chemical behaviour. The effect of different sand-to-binder ratios, additives content, OPC replacement levels, clay grade and calcination, and admixtures on the fresh, hardened and printing properties of the 3D printed mixtures are critically discussed. The environmental impact and production cost of the LC3 system compared to OPC and other systems are also critically evaluated along with the applications, future directions and research gaps in this field. The findings of this review show that 3D printed LC3 has a similar hardened performance and better microstructure than OPC system. Moreover, cast LC3 system has 30–50% lower environmental impacts depending on the replacement level and better economic feasibility than OPC. Therefore, making it a suitable feedstock for the innovative manufacturing technology of 3D printing.