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

在过去的十年里，增材制造（AM）工艺的学术成果和工业应用迅速扩散。今天，对增材制造的兴趣继续增长。虽然减少环境影响被认为是主要优势之一，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过程的环境绩效的努力非常有限；而且，面向过程改进的研究就更少了。本研究的总体目标是促进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，该研究将连接几何和生命周期清单（LCI），为增材制造过程的LCA提供急需的数据基础，此外，还可以探索重新设计增材制造过程和设备以减少环境影响的机会。这项研究将由普渡大学和伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校（UIC）的一个由生命周期评估、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)物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；(4)AM工艺和设备的重新设计以提高环境绩效。研究结果将在实验室和工业环境中得到验证。本研究旨在使用LCA方法系统地评估新兴增材制造过程的环境影响，特别关注单元过程级别的LCI。该项目将促进对与四个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。提出的LCI模型能够预测具有环境意义的库存流量，而只需要最小的实验努力。本研究是在增材制造工艺的几何和LCI之间建立桥梁的努力，可以指导增材制造设备和工艺的设计和开发，以提高环境的可持续性。更深入地了解能源消耗、原料成分以及由颗粒物和挥发性有机化合物引起的职业危害风险，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过程的环境足迹。这将反过来加速AM的大规模技术采用，并为美国制造业在全球市场上的可持续性提供竞争优势。研究成果将通过期刊论文、会议报告、在线演示和产业合作等方式广泛传播。教育活动将加强在工程和环境领域对增材制造先进生命周期分析的认识。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课程，以积极影响工程教育。

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.