“It would be phenomenal if we could make a bridge that could support a tank,” she said.
3D printing the footbridge wasn’t exactly easy, though, thanks to the weather – when Kreiger first arrived, it was raining so hard that there were mudslides.
“It’s hard to print in torrential downpours,” she said. “It was crazy.”
The bridge was successfully printed, however, and it wasn’t the first successful large-scale 3D printing project that Kreiger has led. She was involved in last year’s endeavor to 3D print concrete barracks, the first full-scale 3D printed reinforced concrete building in the United States engineered for permitting. 32 x 16 feet with eight-foot-tall walls, the barracks was 3D printed using a deployable printer designed to be used by troops in remote locations.
Kreiger first learned about 3D printing at Michigan Technological University, where she ran the 3D printing lab during her graduate studies in material science and engineering. She joined the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center in 2015, and has been responsible for the development of a new type of concrete for 3D printed construction. She and her family own three 3D printers themselves, one that she built herself. They have 3D printed a variety of items, including an orange juicer, magnets, brackets and self-scans.Captain Matt Friedell is Program Manager for the Marine Corps Systems Command’s construction additive manufacturing, the main sponsor for the 3D printed barracks project. He was impressed by Kreiger’s passion for the technology when he first met her in 2016.
“She spoke in grand terms of where the technology will take humanity in the future,” he said. “She took that vision and used it as the kindling to ignite others’ imaginations.”
Kreiger’s enthusiasm for additive manufacturing and construction has led her to build great things with the technology already, and she has plenty of plans to create a lot more in the future. Not only does 3D printing cut back on the human labor required for construction, it allows for quick establishment of housing, bridges and more in remote, otherwise hard to reach areas – which can be a lifesaver for not only the military but civilians as well.
“My goal is to establish additive construction as a viable method and introduce the benefits of large-scale 3D printing to military and commercial construction,” Kreiger said. “I want to push forward and test the limits of the construction industry.”
Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.
[Source: Engineering News Record]
Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
Print Services
Upload your 3D Models and get them printed quickly and efficiently.
You May Also Like
Reinventing Reindustrialization: Why NAVWAR Project Manager Spencer Koroly Invented a Made-in-America 3D Printer
It has become virtually impossible to regularly follow additive manufacturing (AM) industry news and not stumble across the term “defense industrial base” (DIB), a concept encompassing all the many diverse...
Inside The Barnes Global Advisors’ Vision for a Stronger AM Ecosystem
As additive manufacturing (AM) continues to revolutionize the industrial landscape, Pittsburgh-based consultancy The Barnes Global Advisors (TBGA) is helping shape what that future looks like. As the largest independent AM...
Ruggedized: How USMC Innovation Officer Matt Pine Navigates 3D Printing in the Military
Disclaimer: Matt Pine’s views are not the views of the Department of Defense nor the U.S. Marine Corps Throughout this decade thus far, the military’s adoption of additive manufacturing (AM)...
U.S. Congress Calls Out 3D Printing in Proposal for Commercial Reserve Manufacturing Network
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee moved the FY 2026 defense bill forward to the House floor. Included in the legislation is a $131 million proposal for...