Trends, Benefits, Risks and Challenges of 3D Printing Technology in Malaysia Construction Industry: AEC Perspective

Tan, Chee Wei (2022) Trends, Benefits, Risks and Challenges of 3D Printing Technology in Malaysia Construction Industry: AEC Perspective. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is getting popular in the construction industry and was aimed to develop rapid and low-cost building construction. 3D printing technology is developed as construction automation that would likely drastically alter the process of conventional building construction. 3D printing technology has been adopted in concrete printing by foreign countries. This paper studies the perspectives of Malaysia AEC industry towards the current progress of 3D printing in building construction including the uses; advantages and disadvantages; and potential challenges and issues of adopting 3D printing in building concrete works. Numerous benefits of this technology include freedom of design, rapid construction, cost reduction, wastage reduction, etc.; the disadvantages found in this technology could be the limited size and quality of production, economy decrement, limited material selection, technical errors and huge initial capital cost. The potential challenges to adopt this technology in the Malaysian construction industry are limited building materials, absence of building code and regulation, technology constraints and absence of public accessibility that are likely to be accessed before the implementation of this technology in building construction.