Once we have been discussing the prospects of 3D printing with our friend, and we found out that many countryside house owners experience difficulties with the arrangement of the fire pits. One can only purchase made in metal. But not everyone enjoys them. When it concerns the ones made of concrete, natural stone, or bricks there are certain difficulties. First of all, ordinary Portland cement based concrete will crack at the very first, in the best case second use. As it contains chemically bound water, when heated at 600 degrees C it starts to evaporate and crack concrete from the inside. Second, all solutions made of natural stone or bricks are handmade. It is long, expensive, and labor-intensive. And if one desires to move the fire zone to another place? So a thought came to our mind: to use the benefits of the fire-resistant geopolymer concrete and the freedom of shape of the 3D printing to create fire pits and furnaces. Of course, we had to adjust the mix design again, because the filler also has to be fire resistant. Ordinary quartz sand cannot be used. Here is the first test sample of the fire pit. We have printed one for ourselves to test in our own garden, the second is for our friend who gave us this brilliant idea:) We burn fires for the second week in a row, and still not a single crack! However, we have started testing fire at only a 2-day-old concrete. Normally, we should have waited for 28 days before starting the fire tests. But the tougher are the conditions, the more obvious is the result.
The fascinating process of printing circles on our YouTube channel:
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