Concrete 3D Printing Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 84 records, then fell 68% to 27 by 2024 — the last year the dataset treats as complete, since publication lags filing by about 18 months.
- The top 5 assignees hold 57.2% of all 264 records and the top 10 hold 70.5%, so the field has consolidated quickly around a small group of filers.
- C04B (cement chemistry) covers 69.3% of records but only 3.4% sit in B28C (mortar and concrete mixing equipment), a narrow band given how central mixing is to buildability control.
Filing growth compares 2021 (84 records) with 2024 (27) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 264 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent set covers
This landscape tracks patent activity at the intersection of printable concrete formulation and the machinery and process controls that make extrusion-based construction printing viable — thixotropic structural buildup, open time, interlayer bond strength, nozzle geometry and fibre reinforcement. The search spans 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off and returns 264 published records, each classified into one or more IPC subclasses that show where the claim activity actually concentrates.
The corpus splits cleanly between materials-side filings (cement and admixture chemistry) and machine-side filings (extrusion heads, gantries, print-path control). Most records touch cement chemistry directly, but a much smaller share addresses the mixing and pumping equipment that determines whether a formulation prints consistently at scale.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 264 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those records distribute across the IPC subclasses that define the technology.
A sharp rise, then a pullback from peak
Filings rose from 18 in 2017 to a peak of 84 in 2021, then dropped 68% to 27 by 2024 — the last year the dataset can treat as complete. Readers should not read 2025-2026 figures as confirming a continued decline; they are still being filled in as publications catch up with filing dates.
Cement chemistry dominates, mixing equipment is thin
C04B (cement, ceramics and refractories) appears in 69.3% of the 264 records, and B28B (shaping clay and cement products) in 40.5%. B33Y, the dedicated additive-manufacturing class, reaches 36.4% — meaning over a third of filings are explicit about the 3D-printing angle rather than filing it as an ancillary detail. B28C, mortar and concrete mixing, sits at just 3.4%, the smallest class tracked.
Shares are the percentage of the 264 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Concrete Rheology Control for 3D Printing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about concrete rheology control for 3d printing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
3D concrete printing quality monitoring and control system and method (WO2025035063A2)
A 3D concrete printing quality monitoring and control system, for use with a 3D concrete printer having a printing head terminating in a nozzle with an aperture configured to direct application of concrete, includes a camera assembly having one or more cameras sensitive to a specific wavelength range, having a field of view of a concrete layer surface, and configured to capture image data from the concrete layer surface. The system further includes a computing device in communication with the camera assembly that has a communication module to receive image data, memory units storing image analysis instructions and algorithmic instructions, and a processing unit that generates one or more surface quality outputs.Filed by Applied Research Transformation, PLLC, published 2025-02-13 — illustrates the shift toward closed-loop, camera-based print quality control rather than formulation claims alone.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20180071949A1 | Method of reinforced cementitious constrauction by high speed extrusion printing and apparatus for using same | 191 |
| 2 | WO2018136475A1 | 4-dimensional printing of reinforced concrete | 45 |
| 3 | WO2018052469A2 | Method of reinforced cementitious construction by high speed extrusion printing and apparatus for using same | 31 |
| 4 | US10486330B2 | Method of reinforced cementitious construction by high speed extrusion printing and apparatus for using same | 29 |
| 5 | EP3421201A1 | Cementitious mixture for a 3D printer and use thereof | 21 |
| 6 | WO2019089771A1 | Self-reinforced cementitious composite compositions for building-scale three dimensional (3D) printing | 17 |
| 7 | US20210129377A1 | 4-dimensional printing of reinforced concrete | 17 |
| 8 | WO2018052469A3 | Method of reinforced cementitious construction by high speed extrusion printing and apparatus for using same | 17 |
| 9 | US20200061866A1 | Method of Reinforced Cementitious Construction By High Speed Extrusion Printing and Apparatus for Using Same | 16 |
| 10 | WO2020252532A1 | A printer nozzle, a printer assembly and a method of printing | 15 |
Citation counts favour older filings by construction; a high count signals influence within this corpus, not current commercial relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers say about where this field is headed
Three patterns stand out once filing volume, assignee concentration and IPC composition are read together.
Growth cooled sharply after 2021
The peak year, 2021, saw 84 published records; by 2024, the last complete year, that had fallen 68% to 27. This tracks a maturing wave of first-generation filings rather than an active pipeline unravelling — 2025-2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag.
A small group filed most of the field early
The top 5 assignees account for 57.2% of all 264 records in scope, and the top 10 account for 70.5%. Collaboration is rare: only two co-assignee pairs appear in the whole dataset, meaning most of this concentration comes from single-owner filing programmes, not joint ventures.
Chemistry is crowded, equipment is not
C04B (cement and refractory chemistry) touches 69.3% of records, while B28C (mortar and concrete mixing) touches only 3.4%. For a process where mix consistency is what actually governs printability, the mixing and pumping hardware side looks comparatively open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to concrete rheology control for 3d printing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
The ranked leaders span materials suppliers, cement majors, a construction-printing specialist and several universities. Momentum has cooled across the visible leaders in the most recent year, consistent with the broader post-2021 pullback.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 88 records against a fifth-place figure of 10 and a tenth-place figure of 6 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a field with one dominant programme and a long tail of much smaller filers.
Almost no joint filing
Only two co-assignee pairings appear across the dataset, the strongest being a construction-printing company filing alongside an individual inventor. Most records, including those from the largest filers, are filed by a single assignee.
Leading filers show no latest-year activity
Several of the highest-ranked assignees, including the field leader, show zero published records in the latest tracked year, and one shows a -100% year-on-year change. This is consistent with publication lag rather than an actual stop in filing.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Construction Research & Technology GmbH | 0 | — |
| Armatron Systems LLC | 0 | — |
| Heidelberg Materials AG | 0 | — |
| The Regents of the University of Michigan | 0 | -100% |
| BASF SE | 0 | — |
| ICON TECHNOLOGY INC | 0 | — |
| Holcim Technology Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| Ghent University | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, sourcing partners or spotting where to file.
Check freedom-to-operate before formulation work
With C04B claims covering 69.3% of records, cement-chemistry work risks running into existing claims quickly. A targeted clearance search on the specific admixture chemistry is worth doing before committing lab time.
Run a freedom-to-operate search in EurekaTrack the leader's recent filings for signals
The top assignee's zero-count latest year is likely a publication-lag artefact rather than a real pause. Monitoring new publications from this filer over the next 12-18 months will clarify whether the pullback is real.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaExplore the mixing-equipment gap
B28C's 3.4% share is thin relative to how much buildability depends on consistent mixing and pumping. Equipment-focused claims may face less prior art than formulation claims in the same space.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The ranking covers 72 companies, and it is led by a single assignee holding 88 of the 264 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 10 and tenth place at 6. The top 5 assignees combined account for 57.2% of all records, and the top 10 account for 70.5%, so filing activity is concentrated rather than evenly spread. The leaders include cement and admixture majors alongside a specialist construction-printing company and several universities, reflecting that both materials and machinery sides of the field are actively claimed.
Filing volume rose steadily to a peak of 84 records in 2021, then fell 68% to 27 by 2024, the most recent year the dataset treats as complete. This looks like a cooling from an early filing surge rather than sustained growth, though publication lag of roughly 18 months means 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming further decline. A clearer picture of the 2025-2026 trend will only emerge once those publications catch up.
Cement and refractory chemistry, classified under C04B, appears in 69.3% of the 264 records, making it the most heavily claimed area. Shaping of clay and cement products (B28B) and dedicated additive-manufacturing classifications (B33Y) follow at 40.5% and 36.4% respectively. Mortar and concrete mixing equipment (B28C), by contrast, sits at only 3.4%, suggesting the hardware that actually controls mix consistency during printing is comparatively under-claimed relative to the chemistry.
The clearest gap sits in mixing and pumping equipment (B28C at 3.4% of records), which is thin given how directly it governs buildability and open time. Real-time thixotropy sensing, nozzle geometry for multi-material extrusion, and interlayer bond-enhancing additive systems also show comparatively light coverage relative to their technical importance. These areas are worth a dedicated novelty search before assuming they are as crowded as the cement-chemistry side of the field.
US20180071949A1 covers a method of reinforced cementitious construction by high-speed extrusion printing and the apparatus used to perform it, and it is the most-cited record in this dataset at 191 citations. Its citation count reflects its early position in the field and its broad framing of extrusion-based construction printing, which later filings frequently reference as prior art. High citation counts inside a search corpus like this one tend to favour older, foundational filings, so this should be read as a signal of influence rather than current commercial dominance.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.