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Compressive and Tensile Behavior of 3D-Printed and Natural Sandstones

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Abstract

The presented work compares the mechanical behavior from standard unconfined compressive strength and indirect tensile strength tests of natural sandstone and artificial sand-based specimens created by 3D additive manufacturing. Three natural sandstones of varying strength and stiffness were tested to capture a wide range of behavior for comparison with the 3D-printed specimens. Sand grains with furan and silicate binders, as well as, ceramic beads with silicate binder were 3D-printed by commercial suppliers. The tensile and compressive strength, the stiffness, the crack initiation and the crack damage thresholds and the strain behavior were examined to determine if the mechanical behavior of the 3D-printed specimens is similar to natural sandstones. The Sand-Furan 3D-prints behaved the closest to the weak natural sandstone. The compressive strength-to-stiffness ratio, also known as the modulus ratio, and the compressive-to-tensile strength ratio of the 3D-printed Sand-Furan specimens were found to be similar to the natural sandstones tested in this study and literature values. The failed specimens composed of ceramic beads with silicate binder, both in compression and tension, showed fracture growth not commonly observed in natural specimens. The other 3D-printed specimens generally fractured in a similar manner to natural specimens, although several of the quartz sand with furan binder specimens showed fracturing behavior similar to high porosity natural specimens. Over all, using the commercially available quartz sand with furan binder 3D-print materials showed promise to be able to replicate natural rock specimen behavior.

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Abbreviations

D :

Specimen diameter (m)

\({E}_{50}\) :

Average Young’s modulus (Pa)

h :

Specimen thickness (m)

L :

Length of scan line along fracture surface (m)

l :

Line segment lengths for correlation functions (m)

P :

Load at primary failure (kg m/s\(^2\))

\(\epsilon _{y}\) :

Maximum vertical strain at failure (–)

\(\sigma _\mathrm{T}\) :

Indirect tensile stress at failure (\(\hbox {kg/m/s}^2\))

BTS:

Brazilian tensile strength

CC:

Crack closure threshold

CD:

Crack damage threshold

CI:

Crack initiation threshold

ITLS:

Inverse Tangent Lateral Stiffness

LSR:

Later strain response

UCS:

Unconfined compressive strength

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Acknowledgements

The experiments discussed in this study were originally conducted by Jessica L. Martin as part of her Master of Science thesis at ETH Zurich, in the Engineering Geology Group (the former affiliation of Dr. Perras). The authors appreciate the careful testing conducted as part of that thesis. The authors would like to especially recognize Lisa Bieri, Roger Widmer and Iwan Vitins from the Swiss Geotechnical Commission for their expertise and help during the selection of the natural sandstone sites and samples. The discussion of the thin sections results was aided by Peter Nivergelt of the Institute for Geochemistry and Petrologie at ETH Zurich. The donation of the 3D-printed material from Voxeljet and the natural rock specimens from the various quarries listed in the article, as well as specifically Luis Ricardo from Famsa Fabrique d’Agglomérés Monthey SA (Switzerland) and the Restaurant Bergwerk in Buchs (Switzerland), is also gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Vogler gratefully acknowledges funding by the GEOTHERM II project from the Competence Center Environment and Sustainability of the ETH Domain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Matthew A. Perras

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Engineering Geology Group, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Matthew A. Perras

  3. Geothermal Energy and Geofluids, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Daniel Vogler

  4. Transport Processes and Reactions Laboratory, Institute of Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Daniel Vogler

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  1. Matthew A. Perras
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Correspondence to Matthew A. Perras.

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Perras, M.A., Vogler, D. Compressive and Tensile Behavior of 3D-Printed and Natural Sandstones. Transp Porous Med 129, 559–581 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-018-1153-8

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