Sunnyday Technologies · the Prove pillar
ACME Lab
A print without a published, machine-readable record of what went into it is not data. It is anecdote. ACME Lab is the measurement infrastructure that turns 3D concrete printing predictions into adjudicated facts.
We characterize instrumented print specimens in the fresh state and the hardened state under documented protocols, on parts whose full process history was captured at the M3-CRETE rig and standardized through the Open3DCP schema.
Predict, Print, Prove
Sunnyday treats 3D concrete printing as a closed-loop systems problem, Integrated Computational Materials Engineering applied to concrete. Three open-infrastructure pillars act as one instrument.
- Predict, CEMFORGE. Mix-design prediction proposes candidate formulations at a target performance.
- Print, M3-CRETE. Standard, open hardware prints the candidate while recording the full process history.
- Prove, ACME Lab. The measured fresh-state and hardened-state properties become the adjudicated facts. The residual between predicted and measured property is written back into the model, and the next iteration is incrementally less wrong.
A printer with no mix-design model produces well-extruded inconsistency. A mix-design model with no printer produces well-fit speculation. Neither one, alone, is engineering.
What ACME Lab measures
The vision is a research-grade laboratory where the properties that decide whether a printed structure performs are measured on specimens with complete, published process metadata:
- Fresh-state rheology and the printability window
- Interlayer bond and anisotropy between deposited layers
- Hardened-state mechanical properties
- Durability under documented protocols
Our methodology follows the measurement frameworks where the field has converged on them, and it is not committed to any single one. Newer protocols enter the loop as first-class citizens as the field develops them. ACME Lab is to 3D concrete printing what the materials-testing labs at national user facilities are to alloy development under ICME: the empirical layer that turns predictions into adjudicated facts.
The first measurement campaign
Forward-looking and explicitly a stretch-goal infrastructure. The first campaign is scoped around three objectives:
- Anchor to the schema. Replicate selected reference mixes, commercial formulations available nationwide, on the M3-CRETE rig under instrumented conditions, and publish the records in Open3DCP-conformant form.
- Map the printability window. Characterize one or two reference formulations across realistic field conditions of temperature, humidity, and layer cycle time.
- Close the loop. Adjudicate a small batch of CEMFORGE-generated candidates against measured fresh-state and hardened performance, and feed the residual back into the model.
ACME Lab generates the data, Open3DCP standardizes it, and CEMFORGE consumes it. ACME Lab without an open schema is one more isolated test bench; an open schema without a lab is a contract with too few signatories. Together they are the Prove pillar.
Partner with the lab
The laboratory is in Appleton, Wisconsin. We actively seek partnerships with academic and contractor laboratories and welcome expressions of interest.