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Is Additive Manufacturing an Environmentally and Economically Preferred Alternative for Mass Production?

Sangjin Jung1, Levent Burak Kara2, Zhenguo Nie3

  • 1Mechanical, Aerospace, and Materials Engineering, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, United States.

Environmental Science & Technology
|April 17, 2023
PubMed
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This summary is machine-generated.

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers environmental and cost benefits over traditional methods for low-volume production or small parts. Achieving widespread benefits requires advances in materials, production speed, and design, not just scaling up.

Area of Science:

  • Manufacturing Processes
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Industrial Ecology

Background:

  • The manufacturing sector is a major consumer of energy and emitter of greenhouse gases.
  • Additive Manufacturing (AM) presents potential for reduced environmental impact through material savings and on-demand production.
  • However, AM's viability is often limited by high costs and potential for increased energy/material waste in high-volume scenarios.

Approach:

  • A systematic review of comparative studies on the environmental impacts and costs of AM versus traditional manufacturing methods.
  • Identification of specific conditions and factors influencing the economic and environmental preference for AM.
  • Analysis of hidden costs and environmental aspects of AM, such as material feedstock, waste, machine costs, and production rates.

Key Points:

Keywords:
3D printingadditive manufacturinggreen productiongreenhouse gas emissionsindustrial decarbonization

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  • AM is environmentally and economically preferable at lower production volumes (under ~1,000/year for environmental impact, 42-87,000/year for cost) or for small parts with high traditional waste.
  • Performance improvements during the product's use phase, enabled by AM's geometric freedom, can offset higher production impacts.
  • The environmental and economic benefits of AM for mass manufacturing are contingent on reducing feedstock costs/energy, eliminating support structures, increasing speeds, and lowering machine costs.

Conclusions:

  • Fundamental advances in material science, AM production technologies, and computer-aided design are crucial for expanding AM's benefits beyond niche applications.
  • Current challenges are not solely due to economies of scale and require targeted innovation.
  • Optimizing AM for broader industrial adoption necessitates addressing material, process, and design limitations.