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 / 1604825赵付/李林 过去十年，增材制造（AM）工艺的学术成果和工业应用迅速激增。如今，人们对增材制造的兴趣持续增长。尽管减少环境影响被认为是主要优点之一，但使用广为接受的生命周期评估（LCA）方法严格评估增材制造工艺的环境绩效的努力非常有限；此外，针对流程改进的研究就更少了。这项研究的总体目标是加深对产品设计如何影响代表性增材制造工艺的能源/材料消耗和空气排放的理解。如果成功，这项研究将在几何形状和生命周期清单（LCI）之间架起桥梁，为增材制造工艺的生命周期评估提供急需的数据基础，此外，还可以探索重新设计增材制造工艺和设备以减少环境影响的机会。该研究将由普渡大学和伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校 (UIC) 的生命周期评估、增材制造、制造过程建模和污染预防专家组成的团队进行。将共同开展四项研究任务：（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）增材制造工艺和设备重新设计以改善环境绩效。研究结果将在实验室和工业环境中得到验证。该研究旨在利用 LCA 方法系统地评估新兴增材制造工艺的环境影响，特别关注单元工艺级 LCI。该项目将增进对与四种代表性增材制造工艺相关的材料/能量流和空气排放的理解。所提出的 LCI 模型能够预测具有环境意义的库存流量，同时只需要最少的实验工作。该研究旨在弥合增材制造工艺的几何形状和生命周期清单，可以指导增材制造设备和工艺的设计和开发，以增强环境的可持续性。更深入地了解能源消耗、原料成分以及颗粒物和挥发性有机化合物造成的职业危害风险，可以为设计师、制造商和政府机构提供指导，以保护劳动力并减少增材制造工艺的环境足迹。这反过来将加速增材制造技术的更大规模采用，并为美国制造业在全球市场的可持续性方面提供竞争优势。研究成果将通过期刊论文、会议演讲、在线演示和行业合作广泛传播。教育活动将加强工程和环境领域增材制造先进生命周期分析的意识。研究成果将被纳入伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校和普渡大学的研究生和本科生课程中，以对工程教育产生积极影响。