Application of Adelaide-University-Snapback-Indirect-Tensile-Test on 3D Printed Cement-Based Materials (2024-07)¶

Additive manufacturing (AM), known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, is an innovative technology that has found applications in the construction industry. Due to the intrinsic layer-by-layer manufacturing process, interlayer bond strength is a key that needs to be investigated and improved, to ensure the reliability and suitability of the technology. In fracture tests, the orientation of the layers and their interfaces strongly affect the responses and hence stability of the tests. Fracture can happen very abruptly and hence can be out of control due to weak interfaces between layers, particularly in indirect tensile tests on disc specimens. In this study, the use of AUSBIT (Adelaide University Snapback Indirect Tensile test) facilitates the investigation of pre- and post-peak behaviour of the 3D printed disc specimens thanks to its ability to stabilize the cracking process in Brazilian disc testing. This prevents abrupt or instant failure of disc specimens and hence can allow more time for the use of advanced image-based instrumentation. In combination with AUSBIT, Digital Image Correlation (DIC) enables observation of full-field strain distributions and their evolutions.