Design and Development of a Laboratory-Scale 3D Printing Platform for Sustainable Construction Materials Using Model-Based Systems Engineering

This paper presents the design and development of a laboratory-scale 3D printing platform intended for research on sustainable construction materials. The growing interest in low-carbon and locally available materials, including clay, geopolymers, recycled aggregates, and bio-based composites, has increased the need for flexible experimental printing systems. However, most existing construction 3D printers are designed for industrial applications and remain costly, bulky, or limited to specific material categories. The proposed platform was developed using a Model-Based Systems Engineering approach in order to structure the design process and establish links between user needs, system requirements, functions, and physical components. The platform is based on modular Cartesian architecture and includes interchangeable extrusion systems. A syringe extruder is used for relatively fluid materials such as clay slurries, ceramic pastes, gypsum-based mixtures, and fluid geopolymers, while a screw extruder is designed for more viscous materials such as mortars, cement-based mixtures, and dense geopolymer pastes. The system also integrates motion-control components, material feeding devices, monitoring elements, and safety functions to ensure stable and repeatable printing conditions. The platform is intended to support the evaluation of printability, material flow, layer deposition, dimensional stability, and interlayer bonding. By combining a flexible hardware configuration with an MBSE-based design methodology, the proposed system provides a practical research tool for the development and validation of sustainable construction materials. It also creates opportunities for future work on multi-material printing, automated process control, and digital manufacturing applications.