Recent Report Highlights Sustainability Within Metal Additive Manufacturing

We have known for a while that sustainability is a key benefit of additive manufacturing. There are already many examples of this: for example, in architecture, all kinds of consumer goods, and even lithium batteries. A recently published report now provides specific information on sustainability when it comes to metal additive manufacturing along the entire value chain. Specifically, this analysis addresses key questions of sustainability in additive manufacturing compared to traditional methods, such as the factors which ensure a lower carbon footprint and how users can achieve their personal or corporate CO2 goals thanks to additive manufacturing. We have taken a closer look at the results of the report here.

Looking back over the past decades, the ever-increasing CO2 in our atmosphere and the underlying consequences for people, nature and the planet are truly worrying. To help companies directly reduce their carbon footprint, additive manufacturing has increasingly been coming into play throughout the production cycle. To assess sustainability, AMPOWER has designed a calculator to evaluate the CO2 footprint of different technologies. This has produced quantitative evidence that the CO2 emissions of Powder Bed Fusion are significantly lower than those of milling. The reason for this is that weight-optimized constructions can be produced by the former method and therefore the material and energy input are lower. Binder jetting, which has low emissions throughout its process from 3D printing to debinding, performed surprisingly well.

The detailed energy consumption for each step of several methods.

Achieving Sustainability Through Additive Manufacturing

An important point to consider when it comes to sustainability is the different types of energy used in production. For example, other industrial processes and manufacturing technologies – casting for example – generate heat and therefore direct CO2 emissions by burning fossil fuels. In contrast, additive manufacturing of metals uses only electrical energy, which means that this required energy results in a different amount of carbon emissions.