Title: Guidelines to compare additive and subtractive manufacturing approaches under the energy demand perspective

Authors: Giuseppe Ingarao; Paolo C. Priarone; Rosa Di Lorenzo; Luca Settineri

Addresses: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy ' Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy ' Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy ' Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy

Abstract: In order to characterise the environmental performance of additive manufacturing (AM) processes, comparative analyses are required. Different manufacturing approaches (such as additive and subtractive ones), besides adopting different equipment, use different kinds and amounts of material. Therefore, the material-related flow has to be followed throughout the entire product life. Differences in environmental impact arise at each step of the life cycle: material production, manufacturing, use, disposal, and transportation. A life cycle-based methodology able to take due account of all the factors of influence on the total energy demand for the production of metal components is given in this paper. Decision support tools for identifying the most sustainable manufacturing route (subtractive versus AM-based approaches) are presented for different scenarios. The aim of the present paper is to contribute to the debate concerning the environmental impact characterisation of AM processes.

Keywords: additive manufacturing; process comparison; energy saving; decision-support tools.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSM.2020.107126

International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, 2020 Vol.4 No.2/3/4, pp.266 - 280

Received: 25 Feb 2019
Accepted: 27 Jun 2019
Published online: 04 May 2020 *

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