Advancing additive manufacturing with renewable materials: a novel method for stress-aligned 3D printing using beech veneer

Abstract

Abstract Current timber construction predominantly employs solid mass‐timber panels, such as cross‐laminated timber. While these solid construction systems simplify assembly processes, they consume large volumes of material. The potential for targeted, efficient material placement offered by additive manufacturing (AM) has yet to be fully realized in the context of solid wood, largely due to its anisotropy, variable material quality, and the difficulty of incorporating its continuous fibers into printable mixes. Wood is therefore usually ground into particles within varying binder mixtures. We developed a method that uses automated lamination of veneer filaments using PUR adhesives, which has the advantage of keeping intact and continuous natural long wood fibers. This study introduces a workflow that integrates finite‐element (FE) modeling and optimized principal stress‐line (PSL) for form finding of highly material-efficient structures. With FE analysis, principal stress trajectories are identified, filtered, and translated into deposition paths. A custom robotic end‐effector was developed to deposit stress direction-aligned linear wood filaments. We developed slab components that consist of a thin timber sheet that acts as a printing surface, as a functional outer layer, and out of 3D-printed reinforcement ribs. This approach is benchmarked with small‐scale fused deposition modeling (FDM) polymer specimens against a large‐scale series of robotically produced specimens using printed beech veneer filament as reinforcement ribs. This paper evaluates the method’s feasibility and structural behavior, highlighting its potential to advance renewable‐material AM and foster more sustainable, resource‐efficient construction practices.