Introducing Concrete Fabrication into Ferrocement: A Study on the Shape-Making of Cement Mixture

Widely used in the making of sculptures and prefabricated building components, ferrocement is considered to be beneficial to environmental preservation. However, there is still little attention paid to the making shape and design of the ferrocement in the literature. Moreover, there are some disadvantages associated with ferrocement, such as the lengthy and complex process of binding poles and nets together. The research question to solve in this paper is about how to study the making shape of ferrocement when solving these disadvantages, so as to improve the characteristics of ferrocement. In this research, a dialogue is conducted between concrete fabrication and ferrocement, the focus of which is placed more on the material and craft instead of robotics as the recent frontier of concrete fabrication. By replacing the standard wire mesh in the ferrocement with steel, how to make the steel plate from two dimensions to three dimensions, and then assemble them into a steel skeleton is explored. Then, the craft of casting is studied for integration of the cement mixture into the steel skeleton and its tight attachment onto the steel surface with spraying. Apart from that, a digital software is applied to the simulation and design accompanied by physical experimentation. To sum up, the research demonstrates the potential of free-forming of the ferrocement and its application in the (prefabricated) building technology, with questions raised for future study.

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