Rapid Prototyping Journal – Review Paper 2024

The purpose of this paper is to review cases of artificial reefs built through additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and analyse their
ecological goals, fabrication process, materials, structural design features and implementation location to determine predominant parameters,
environmental impacts, advantages, and limitations.
The review analysed 16 cases of artificial reefs from both temperate and tropical regions. These were
categorised based on the AM process used, the mortar material used (crucial for biological applications), the structural design features and the
location of implementation. These parameters are assessed to determine how effectively the designs meet the stipulated ecological goals, how AM
technologies demonstrate their potential in comparison to conventional methods and the preference locations of these implementations.
The overview revealed that the dominant artificial reef implementation occurs in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Seas, both accounting for
24%. The remaining cases were in the Australian Sea (20%), the South Asia Sea (12%), the Persian Gulf and the Pacific Ocean, both with 8%, and the
Indian Sea with 4% of all the cases studied. It was concluded that fused filament fabrication, binder jetting and material extrusion represent the main AM
processes used to build artificial reefs. Cementitious materials, ceramics, polymers and geopolymer formulations were used, incorporating aggregates from
mineral residues, biological wastes and pozzolan materials, to reduce environmental impacts, promote the circular economy and be more beneficial for
marine ecosystems. The evaluation ranking assessed how well their design and materials align with their ecological goals, demonstrating that five cases
were ranked with high effectiveness, ten projects with moderate effectiveness and one case with low effectiveness.
AM represents an innovative method for marine restoration and management. It offers a rapid prototyping technique for design
validation and enables the creation of highly complex shapes for habitat diversification while incorporating a diverse range of materials to benefit
environmental and marine species’ habitats.

Link of the original project