This New Software Uses 3D Printing To Turn Plastic Bottles Into Sturdy Structures
Who says plastic bottles can’ t be used to build strong and stable structures you can sit and stand on?
Plastic bottles are everywhere we go. They’ re in supermarkets, refrigerators, and you’ ve probably used one today. After all, they’ re our go-to packaging option for almost any form of liquid that needs to be contained. However, they also end up in places they shouldn’ t be in, like in landfills, oceans, and the streets. Thankfully, recycling these bottles are a common practice and these bottles can usually be melted to form new things, like 3D printing filament.
However, you don’ t have melt plastic bottles into a shapeless form for them to be useful.
Researchers from Germany’ s Hasso Plattner Institute have taken the recycling game one step further: by creating a program that turns plastic bottles into large, interconnected structures.
The software, called TrussFab, can automatically generate bottle based-structures from simple 3D designs using a bunch of algorithms, and the possibilities of what you can do with it seem almost limitless. Need to make a new chair? Sketch out a diagram in TrussFab and it’ ll show you how to build one out of plastic bottles. How about something more daring, like a bridge that can carry a human’ s weight? Well, it’ s the same process, and the software is up for the task.
Described as“ an integrated end-to-end system that allows users to fabricate large-scale structures that are sturdy enough to carry human weight,” TrussFab is more than just a sketching tool, it’ s also a 3D printing tool that’ ll model the things needed to connect the bottles together.
42 Construction Leaders • May 2017