POLYBRICK 2.0 via ROBOTIC FABRICATION: DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF BIO-INTEGRATIVE LOAD BEARING LATTICE STRUCTURES FOR CLAY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
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This work presents a two part pursuit to increase efficiency and application of digital ceramics within load bearing applications and simultaneously refining available tools for their fabrication. The first part of this thesis features a bio-integrative approach to rethinking ceramic load bearing within the new paradigm of additive manufacturing. To this end, natural precedents of load bearing, particularly the trabecular bone is surveyed with focus on its aspects of specialized morphology, lightweight, adaptability, and regenerative lifecycle. Additionally, frameworks for digital and physical performance evaluations are outlined. The second part of this thesis features workflows of design informed fabrication. A novel parametric extruder system is designed and attached to an ABB IRB 4600 robotic arm. The geometry is adaptively altered to account for fabrication forces that lead to weakening and failure. The comprehensive workflow is compiled as a Grasshopper plug-in “PolyBrick”, with functionality to create load responsive brick geometries, adapt and adjust them for higher print success according to unique clay rheology, and generate effective custom toolpaths for paste based printing. Importantly, the algorithmic workflows are applied within a design proposal that negates not only structural efficiency, but also the implications of design curation using PolyBrick 2.0 modules.