Life cycle assessment-guided design for sustainable microinjection molds
Giuseppe SERRATORE, Francesco BORDA, Vito BASILE, Luigino FILICE
Abstract. Integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into the microinjection mold design phase enables a comprehensive comparison between Conventional Injection Molding (CIM) and Topological Optimized Injection Molding (TOIM) approaches. By combining Topological Optimization (TO) with LCA, this research evaluates the environmental impacts across four phases: material production, mold manufacturing, use phase, and end-of-life. Results highlight that, while CIM demonstrates lower initial environmental impacts, TOIM achieves better overall performance when the mold’s lifecycle is considered. The sustainable break-even point for TOIM is reached around 68.50% of the mold’s lifespan, attributed to energy recovery during the use phase. Additionally, recycling scenarios underline the importance of material recovery in reducing Cumulative Energy Demand. This study demonstrates that integrating LCA into early design stages and employing TO can significantly enhance sustainability in microinjection molding, offering a practical framework for balancing environmental and operational efficiency.
Keywords
Microinjection Molding, Topological Optimization, Life Cycle Assessment, Sustainable Manufacturing
Published online 5/7/2025, 10 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Giuseppe SERRATORE, Francesco BORDA, Vito BASILE, Luigino FILICE, Life cycle assessment-guided design for sustainable microinjection molds, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 54, pp 1807-1816, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903599-194
The article was published as article 194 of the book Material Forming
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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