Life cycle assessment of metal additive manufacturing processes: A comparative study of bound metal deposition and binder jetting technologies
Iacopo Bianchi, Archimede Forcellese, Luciano Greco, Massimiliano Pieralisi, Tommaso Verdini, Alessio Vita
Abstract. Additive Manufacturing (AM) has garnered significant industrial interest due to its ability to produce complex geometries, customize materials, and minimize material waste compared to traditional manufacturing processes. However, metal AM technologies are often associated with high energy consumption and, consequently, potential environmental impacts. Therefore, to enhance the sustainability of the sector, it is essential to conduct detailed impact analyses. This study presents a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of two metal AM technologies: Bound Metal Deposition (BMD) and Binder Jetting (BJ). Components characterized by the same external bounding volume and increasing geometric complexity were investigated to identify the advantages and limitations of the two technologies for different applications.
In general, BJ emerged as the more sustainable technology compared to BMD across all geometric configurations. The environmental impact reduction achieved with BJ increased with geometric complexity, ranging from 36% to 51%. This is mainly due to lower printing energy and more efficient material use, such as the ability to print without supports in the powder bed. An increase in part complexity resulted in lower material use and reduced environmental impacts for both scenarios. On the other hand, impacts per kg of produced components strongly increase with parts complexity.
Keywords
LCA, Metal Additive Manufacturing, Sustainability, 3D Printing
Published online 5/7/2025, 11 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Iacopo Bianchi, Archimede Forcellese, Luciano Greco, Massimiliano Pieralisi, Tommaso Verdini, Alessio Vita, Life cycle assessment of metal additive manufacturing processes: A comparative study of bound metal deposition and binder jetting technologies, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 54, pp 2474-2484, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903599-267
The article was published as article 267 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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