**1. Introduction**

Additive manufacturing, more frequently known as 3D printing, is the fabrication method of objects using a print head, nozzle, or other printer technologies to deposit material to the print surface [1]. The 3D printing process has been successfully used in many disciplines, such as aerospace, automotive, biomedical, and food industries. It is claimed to allow quicker and cheaper production of an object, especially intricate and delicate objects with complex geometry. Unlike other manufacturing means, 3D printing has a much higher automation level that further contributes to labor and cost reduction, reducing production time [2–5].

The civil engineering field also has developed to a stage where the design of the structure has become much more complex, while load-bearing necessities have not been reduced. Furthermore, to meet the demand for residential buildings as well as infrastructure objects, there is a high need to build faster and reduce building costs. There are high hopes that 3D printing, due to success in other fields, will also bear fruit in civil engineering applications. It has been estimated that 3D printing will reduce construction waste by 30 to 60%, decrease production time by 50 to 70%, and drop labor costs by 50 to 80% [6]. To show these improvements, cementitious material compositions are specifically designed to flow evenly and have proper layer adhesion to one another. Furthermore, 3D-printed concrete sections are more prone to acid attacks as well as shrinkage [7]. The weakest part of the 3D-printed section is claimed to be the layer connecting zone. They also show anisotropic behavior and insufficient insulating properties that lead to possible heat loss [8,9].

As 3D printing of structures are more frequently used to develop a structure where layers are put on top of one another and subjected to direct compression, it was predicted that the structure would work similarly to masonry structures. However, as not all the structures are subjected to direct compression, there is a need to gain data and knowledge on how printed structures act under other stresses. For instance, retaining walls have load applied on the side of them. Therefore, tensile stresses significantly affect the structure's load-bearing capacity.

This article investigates the early-age creep and drying shrinkage properties of 3Dprinted cement composite that are loaded in the direction parallel to layers and cast cement composite and compares them to one another.
