In production today1 × 0.7 × 0.6 m
Build volume per print, at Switzerland Innovation Park Zürich. Larger pieces are assembled from several elements.
Technology
Geopolymer binder jetting
A powder bed of recycled mineral aggregate and metakaolin. A printhead jets a liquid activator only where the part is. The geopolymer that forms binds the grains into stone - at room temperature, without cement.
Material
What our stone is made of
- Aggregate
- Recycled mineral residue - marble, granite, limestone, brick dust, recycled concrete. 80% of the dry mix by mass.
- Binder
- Metakaolin, activated with potassium silicate. No Portland cement.
- Curing
- Room temperature, in the powder bed. No kiln or autoclave.
- Powder
- Unbound powder is recovered and reused in the next print.
- Strength
- 37 MPa mean compressive strength, independent test by a UKAS-accredited laboratory.
- Durability
- No strength loss after freeze-thaw testing in the same series.
R&D since 2018
Four machine generations, 1.8 to 40 MPa
Machine, printhead and material were developed together. Bars show in-house results per generation; the dashed line is the independent accredited result.
Production
Today and next
In production today
Gen2 — in development3.5 × 1.2 × 1 m
- Two independent portals: printhead and recoater
- 5.5 m X axis, rack-and-pinion on both legs, ca. 1 m/s
- Ships in a 20 ft container
- > 2,000 L effective volume per job (modelled)
Funded through BRIDGE Proof of Concept. Rendering — not yet built.
Finishing
Bearing faces and joints are cut to tolerance on a stone saw today. A robotic milling cell with a rotary table is being set up to automate finishing, currently the throughput bottleneck.
Bring us a drawing, and a bag of your sand.
Tell us about the project. We reply within a few working days.
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