Environmental Dimensions of Additive Manufacturing: Mapping Application Domains and Their Environmental Implications

Summary Additive manufacturing (AM) proposes a novel paradigm for engineering design and manufacturing, which has profound economic, environmental, and security implications. The design freedom offered by this category of manufacturing processes and its ability to locally print almost each designabl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of industrial ecology 2017-11, Vol.21 (S1), p.S49-S68
Main Authors: Kellens, Karel, Baumers, Martin, Gutowski, Timothy G., Flanagan, William, Lifset, Reid, Duflou, Joost R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3D printing
Additive manufacturing
Additives
Classification
Data
Data processing
Design engineering
Energy consumption
energy efficiency
Environmental impact
Environmental performance
industrial ecology
Life cycle assessment
Life cycle engineering
Life cycles
Manufacturing
Manufacturing industry
Mapping
Pollution
Rapid prototyping
Remanufacturing
resource efficiency
Safety
Security
sustainability
Taxonomy
Transport costs
Transportation
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Summary:Summary Additive manufacturing (AM) proposes a novel paradigm for engineering design and manufacturing, which has profound economic, environmental, and security implications. The design freedom offered by this category of manufacturing processes and its ability to locally print almost each designable object will have important repercussions across society. While AM applications are progressing from rapid prototyping to the production of end‐use products, the environmental dimensions and related impacts of these evolving manufacturing processes have yet to be extensively examined. Only limited quantitative data are available on how AM manufactured products compare to conventionally manufactured ones in terms of energy and material consumption, transportation costs, pollution and waste, health and safety issues, as well as other environmental impacts over their full lifetime. Reported research indicates that the specific energy of current AM systems is 1 to 2 orders of magnitude higher compared to that of conventional manufacturing processes. However, only part of the AM process taxonomy is yet documented in terms of its environmental performance, and most life cycle inventory (LCI) efforts mainly focus on energy consumption. From an environmental perspective, AM manufactured parts can be beneficial for very small batches, or in cases where AM‐based redesigns offer substantial functional advantages during the product use phase (e.g., lightweight part designs and part remanufacturing). Important pending research questions include the LCI of AM feedstock production, supply‐chain consequences, and health and safety issues relating to AM.
ISSN:1088-1980
1530-9290
DOI:10.1111/jiec.12629