AMPOWER
CO2 emission of a stainless-steel component
The strategy consultancy AMPOWER has published a new study about the sustainability potential of metal additive manufacturing.
The company claims that although 3D printing has been promoted as one production technology to reduce emissions and consequently the carbon footprint of the part production and complete product life cycle, detailed calculations looking at the complete production route and objective comparisons against conventional manufacturing have been scarce.
AMPOWER began research for the study in 2021, when it began working with around 20 industrial partners to investigate the carbon footprint of different metal additive manufacturing technologies. The company has now presented the results, comparing traditional metal processing technologies such as machining and casting with state-of-the-art metal AM technologies such as powder bed fusion and binder jetting.
A key finding from the study claims that there is no general answer to which manufacturing technology has the lowest carbon footprint.
Dr. Eric Wycisk, lead author, said: “The overall footprint is heavily influenced by the alloy group as well as the part geometry. Complex geometries with high ‘buy-to-fly ratio’ are favourable for netshape technologies such as AM and casting, while simple parts might be most sustainable if milled.”
Using titanium alloys in powder bed fusion to manufacture weight optimised designs is a way to reduce carbon footprint in AM says the study. The material input and therefore the embodied energy is lower and compensates for higher energy consumption in the part manufacturing process. The embodied energy is less prominent for aluminium allots and stainless steels.
During this study, AMPOWER developed a Sustainability Calculator for the CO2 footprint. According to the company, this enables the assessment of a variety of alloy and technology combinations as well as customisation of the process routes.
The full study from AMPOWER can be downloaded here.
Evonik is also making moves to reduce its carbon footprint, the company recently introduced new powder materials for 3D printing that it says produce nearly 50% less carbon dioxide.
