Sustainability in extrusion-based additive manufacturing technologies

Growing environmental and social concerns about human society’s impact on the natural environment have been pushing sustainable development issues into the front line of public policies. The degradation of natural resources has been aggravated by several other factors: the actual lifestyle of consumer societies, the rapid growth of emerging countries, rising inequalities among regions, and the reduction of the life cycle time for each product requiring a high consumption of limited resources. Sus- tainable industrial practices can contribute to the devel- opment of more sustainable products and processes. It is critical to apply eco-design principles and develop greener products and production processes, reducing impacts associated with its production and consumption. An envi- ronmental impact assessment should be taken into account from the early design and production phases, through all the stages of a product’s life until disposal. As public interest in additive manufacturing grows, its increasing usage for the production of final parts can support a drive towards more sustainable manufacturing processes. To introduce sustainability awareness during extrusion-based additive manufacturing productions, a study of the pro- duction of a part in terms its building orientation and internal filling, regarding the production time, energy consumption and end-of-life scenarios is considered. By combining the additive processes with eco-design, a higher awareness is possible, which results in added value to the produced parts while maintaining the part’s objective performance.