Study of Additives Designed in 3D to Lighten Synthetic Marbles

The high global demand for ornamental stones in building construction is motivating the use of their waste, generated during manufacture, to produce synthetic stones. Artificial or synthetic stone is a relatively new material in the global civil construction market, and is a composite material with the incorporation of up to 95% by volume of natural aggregates, such as marble particles, crushed granite, quartz sand and glass fragments. Cultured or synthetic marble is an economical and necessary alternative to natural marble, due to the overexploitation of the environment to extract it. In addition, synthetic marble presents a series of interesting characteristics to consider giving a second life to the waste produced after the end of its useful life. The main objective of this work focuses on the preparation of lightened synthetic or cultured marble by means of 3D printed structures, thanks to the use of marble waste. For this purpose, cylindrical specimens of recycled marble were manufactured by mixing marble, resin and 3D printed parts using a recycled PLA. These 3D printed structures are incorporated to reduce costs, avoiding as much as possible to influence the mechanical properties of the final piece.