Environmental sustainability evaluation of additive manufacturing using the NIST test artifact

Abstract

To identify which elements of 3D printers influence the environment, this paper compares four 3D printers: Material-jetting (PJ), powder-bed-fusion of a large-bed-size (LSa), powder-bed-fusion of a small-bed-size (LSb) and material-extrusion (FDM), when printing the NIST test artifact. The elements consist of the input of the life cycle inventory. Our results show that the 3D printer with the lowest environmental impact is LSb, then LSa, and FDM, while PJ has the largest impact amongst the four. For PJ, LSa and LSb, the dominant elements are ‘power for printing’ while it is ‘additional material’ for FDM. However, during high-volume-production the dominant elements become ‘additional material’ for LSa and ‘object material’ for PJ, LSb, and FDM. The most influential element of each 3D printer also varies according to the part-orientation. Overall, it is found that LSb is the least harmful to the environment for low-volume-production, while LSa is the least harmful to the environment for the high-volume-production.