A 3D printer in use. Source: WikiCommons
The potential implications of additive manufacturing (AM) are very exciting for both the general public and engineering community. AM, often known as 3D printing, is an emerging class of technologies that has been heralded as a revolution in production and an opportunity for dramatic environmental advance.
While the technological capabilities of additive manufacturing processes are studied thoroughly, a deep understanding of the environmental implications is still lacking.
A new issue of Yale’s Journal of Industrial Ecology presents cutting-edge research on the emerging field and provides important insights into its environmental, energy and health impacts.
Sometimes additive manufacturing is portrayed to the public as an inkjet printer for making objects, but currently, it is primarily used as a production process in an industry and encompasses a diverse set of technologies. Inkjet printers and 3D printers do share the ability to produce products and components based on digital information by adding successive layers of materials rather than removing materials, like in conventional manufacturing.
"The research in this issue shows that it is too early to label 3D printing as the path to sustainable manufacturing," said Reid Lifset, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Industrial Ecology and co-author of the lead editorial. "We need to know much more about the material footprints, energy consumption in production, process emissions, and especially the linkages and alignments between the various stages in the production process."
Additive manufacturing is seen as inherently environmentally preferable to conventional manufacturing because its potential for production is thought to allow zero-waste manufacturing. Research in this issue indicates that the environmental performance is very sensitive to the pattern of usage and configuration of the machinery and materials used.
"This special issue demonstrates the capability of industrial ecology to reveal important and often overlooked aspects of new technologies," said Indy Burke, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "If we are to realize the environmental potential of 3D printing, we need to know where the challenges and the leverage points lie."
To read more about this research, open the Yale Journal here.
