3D PRINTABLE BUILDING MATERIAL COMPOSED OF

COPPER TAILINGS AND IRON TAILINGS

Guided by Presented By
Dr. Manu S Nadesan Alan Shaju
Associate Professor ASI17CE002
CE Dept. ASIET 2017-2021
Department of Civil Engineering ASIET
 CONTENT
• INTRODUCTION
• OBJECTIVE
• EXPERIMENT METHODOLOGY
 Results
• CONCLUSION
• REFERENCE

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 1
tailings
 INTRODUCTION
 Nowadays, the increase in mineral resources leads to serious
environmental problems in mines.
 Copper tailings are fine sand grains left after crushing and mineral
processing of copper ores .
 Iron tailing is a kind of industrial solid waste generated from
mineral processing of iron ores, which is a major component of
industrial solid wastes.
 Copper tailings and iron tailings are ideal raw materials for the
preparation of 3D printing materials in building and construction.
 3D printing includes the model-based three-dimensional data,
extruding materials by a printer nozzle and printing additional
materials to generate 3D entities in a layer by layer manner .
Seminar Topic 3
3D printing nozzle and schematic diagram

3D printing process and printed framework

3D Printable building material
composed of copper tailings and iron 22
tailings
 OBJECTIVES

• To propose an environmentally friendly 3D printable building

material .
• To study about the physical and chemical properties of 3D
printable building materials.

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 5
tailings
 EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY

• Raw materials
 Main raw materials employed in the experiment are iron
tailings and copper tailings.
 Besides, fly ash and belite cement were also added.

• Experimental methods
 Copper tailings and iron tailings were blended with fly ash and
belite cement in appropriate proportions as shown in Table .

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 6
tailings
Mixing rati o of 3D printable building materials( wt%)
Symbol Fly ash Iron tailing Copper tailing Belite cement FDN water reducer
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

FCO 19 50 0 30 1
FC1 19 25 25 30 1
FC2 19 16.7 33.3 30 1
FC3 19 12.5 37.5 30 1
FC4 19 10 40 30 1
FC5 19 33.3 16.7 30 1
FC6 19 37.5 12.5 30 1
FC7 19 40 10 30 1
FC8 19 41.7 8.3 30 1
FC9 19 8.3 41.7 30 1
FC10 19 0 50 30 1

Water to solid ratio : 0.20.

Fly ash : 19%
Belite cement : 30%
FDN water reducer : 1%
FDN -high-efficiency water reducing agent , a brown powder with main
component of naphthalene sulfonated formaldehyde condensates.
3D Printable building material
composed of copper tailings and iron 7
tailings
Raw materials of 3D printable building materials:
a) iron tailings
b) copper tailings

• Eleven batches of mortars as listed in were prepared and tested

for the mechanical properties .
• Mortar samples were prepared in dimensions of 40 mmx40 mm
x160 mm
3D Printable building material
composed of copper tailings and iron 8
tailings
• The specimens hydrated for 90 days were soaked in alcohol for 72
hrs to stop the hydration, and then the specimens taken out of the
alcohol were wiped and dried in a vacuum oven at 60 ˚C for 24 h.
• The core part of the specimens was selected for subsequent
characterization of XRD, FTIR and SEM .
• Particle size distribution of iron tailings and copper tailings was
tested by using a laser particle size analyzer

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 9
tailings
Results
Physical and mechanical properties
Sample Setting time Fluidity Compressive Flexural strength
(min) (mm) strength ( MPa ) ( MPa )
________________________ ________________ ________________
Initial Final 3 day 28 day 3 day 28
day
FC0 55 92 205 22.2 31.9 5.4
5.2
FC1 43 75 182.5 23.2 32.7 6.2
6.5
FC2 35 70 177.5 25.3 39.8 4.9
7.4
FC3 37 73 175.0 26.3 36.3 5.4
8.1
FC4 35 65 172.5 25.2 36.8 5.8
6.8
FC5 45 78 187.5 28.9 36.6 4.2
6.6
FC6 49 80 192.5 27.2 37.8 6.7
6.7
FC7 50 82 197.5 27.9 45.2 6.1
8.2
FC8 55 88 202.5 27.6 38.1 6.8
3D Printable building material 6.7
FC9 38 composed
62 of copper
171.5 tailings and iron
26.6 36.5 6.2
tailings 6.1
• Compounding eff ect of copper tailings and iron tailings on the
mechanical strength: (a) fl exural strength

Seminar Topic 11
• Compounding eff ect of copper tailings and iron tailings on the
mechanical strength: (b) Compressive strength

Seminar Topic 12
• Influence of copper tailings content on: (a) Setting time

Seminar Topic 13
• Influence of copper tailings content on: (b) Fluidity

Seminar Topic 14
• Decline the fluidity and setting time of materials
• Taken together, FC7 sample has excellent physical and mechanical
properties.
• FC7 sample is the optimal design for the 3D printable building
materials .

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 17
tailings
Physical properties appropriate for the
operability of 3D printing
 40% iron tailings
10% copper tailings
19% fly ash
30% belite cement
1% FDN water reducing agent
 Fluidity =197.5 mm
 Initial setting time : 50 min
Final setting time :82 min

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 18
tailings
 CONCLUSION
• An optimal design for the 3D printable building materials
composed of copper tailings and iron tailings was determined by
the FC7 sample .
• Iron tailings to copper tailings ratio is 4:1
• Sample have flexural strength of 8.2MPa and compressive
strength of 45.2MPa under laboratory conditions.
• 3D printable building material composed of copper tailings and
iron tailings is environmentally friendly.
• The 3D printable building material developed has excellent
workability.
• It reduce environmental pollution.

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 24
tailings
3D printed house (a, b), rockery (c), and background wall (d)
3D Printable building material
composed of copper tailings and iron 23
tailings
 REFERENCES
[1] Xinjian Li, Na Zhang, Jianbo Yuan, Xinke Wang, Yonghong Zhang, Feixu Chen , “Preparation
and microstructural characterization of a novel 3D printable building material composed of copper
tailings and iron tailings ,” Construction and Building Materials, 249 , 118779, March 2020.
[2] G. Ma, Z. Li, L. Wang, “Printable properties of cementitious material containing copper tailings
for extrusion based 3D printing,” Construction and Building Materials, 162 , 613–627, 2018.
[3] F. Han, L. Li, S. Song, J. Liu, “3) Early-age hydration characteristics of composite binder
containing iron tailing powder,” Powder Technology , 315 , 322–331, April 2017.
[4] B. Han, B. Altansukh, K. Haga, Z. Stevanovic, R. Jonovic, L. Avramovic ,”Development of
copper recovery process from flotation tailings by a combined method of high-pressure leaching-
solvent extraction,” Journal of Hazardous Materials 352 ,192–203,2018.
[5] B. Zareiyan, B. Khoshnevis, “Interlayer adhesion and strength of structures in contour crafting -
effects of aggregate size, extrusion rate, and layer thickness,” Automation in Construction ,81 ,112–
121,June 2017.

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 26
tailings
Thank you

3D Printable building material

composed of copper tailings and iron 27
tailings