Collaborative Research: Environmental Sustainability of Additive Manufacturing Processes: Bridging Geometry and Life Cycle Inventory

合作研究：增材制造工艺的环境可持续性：桥接几何形状和生命周期清单

• 批准号: 1604825
• 负责人: Lin Li
• 金额: $ 16.83万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1604825&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Environmental; Sustainability; Additive

1605472 / 1604825Zhao, Fu / Li, Lin The past decade has seen a rapid proliferation of academic achievements and industrial applications of additive manufacturing (AM) processes. Today the interest in AM continues to grow. Although reducing environmental impact is considered among the main advantages, very limited efforts have been made to rigorously evaluate the environmental performance of AM processes using the well-accepted life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology; also, even less studies are oriented toward process improvement. The overarching goal of this research is to advance understanding on how product design affects energy/material consumption and air emissions of representative AM processes. If successful, this research will bridge geometry and life cycle inventory (LCI), which provides much needed data foundation for LCA of AM processes and furthermore, enables the exploration of opportunities to re-design AM process and equipment for smaller environmental impacts. The research will be undertaken by a team consisting of experts in life cycle assessment, additive manufacturing, manufacturing process modeling, and pollution prevention at the Purdue University and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Four research tasks will be jointly pursued: (1) Material flow modeling and feedstock chemical composition analysis, (2) Energy consumption modeling, (3) Air emission characterization and quantification, and (4) AM process and equipment redesign for improved environmental performance. The research findings will be verified in both laboratory and industrial settings. The research is an effort to systematically evaluate the environmental impacts of the emerging AM processes using LCA methodology, with particular focus on unit process level LCI. The project will advance understanding of the material/energy flow and air emissions associated with four representative AM processes. The proposed LCI model is capable of predicting inventory flows of environmental significance while requiring only minimal experimental efforts. The research is an effort to bridge geometry and LCI of AM processes, which can guide the design and development of AM equipment and processes for enhanced environmental sustainability. Deeper understanding on energy consumption, feedstock material composition, and occupation hazard risk due to particulate matters and volatile organic compounds can provide guidelines for designers, manufacturers, and government agencies to safeguard workforce and reduce environmental footprints of AM processes. This will in turn accelerate the larger scale technology adoption of AM, and offer a competitive edge regarding sustainability to the U.S. manufacturing sector in the global market. Research results will be broadly disseminated through journal papers, conference presentations, online demonstrations, and industrial collaboration. The educational activities will strengthen the awareness of advanced life cycle analysis on additive manufacturing in engineering and environmental fields. Research results will be incorporated into both graduate and undergraduate courses at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Purdue University to positively impact engineering education.

1605472 / 1604825zhao，fu / li，lin，过去十年来，添加剂制造（AM）流程的学术成就和工业应用迅速扩散。今天，对AM的兴趣继续增长。尽管在主要优势中考虑了减少环境影响，但已经采取了非常有限的努力，使用良好接受的生命周期评估（LCA）方法严格评估AM过程的环境性能；同样，更少的研究是针对过程改进的。这项研究的总体目标是提高对产品设计如何影响能源/材料消耗和代表性AM流程的空气排放的理解。如果成功，这项研究将桥接几何和生命周期清单（LCI），为AM过程的LCA提供了急需的数据基础，并可以探索重新设计AM过程和设备的机会，以实现较小的环境影响。这项研究将由一个由一支由生命周期评估，增材制造，制造过程建模和预防污染预防专家和伊利诺伊大学芝加哥大学（UIC）组成的团队进行的。将共同执行四项研究任务：（1）材料流建模和原料化学成分分析，（2）能源消耗建模，（3）空气排放表征和量化，以及（4）AM过程和设备重新设计以改善环境性能。研究发现将在实验室和工业环境中进行验证。这项研究是为了系统地评估新兴AM过程的环境影响，尤其着重于单位过程级别LCI。该项目将进一步了解与四个代表性AM过程相关的材料/能量流和空气排放。拟议的LCI模型能够预测具有环境意义的库存流，同时仅需要最少的实验努力。这项研究是为了弥合AM过程的几何形状和LCI的努力，这可以指导AM设备和过程的设计和开发，以增强环境可持续性。对颗粒事项和挥发性有机化合物引起的能耗，原料材料组成以及危险风险的更深入了解可以为设计师，制造商和政府机构提供指导方针，以保护劳动力并减少AM流程的环境足迹。反过来，这将加速AM的大规模技术，并为全球市场中的美国制造业提供有关可持续性的竞争优势。研究结果将通过期刊论文，会议演示，在线演示和工业合作来广泛传播。教育活动将增强对工程和环境领域添加剂制造的高级生命周期分析的认识。研究结果将纳入芝加哥大学和普渡大学伊利诺伊大学的研究生和本科课程，以积极影响工程教育。