Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Dec 11;12(24):4161.
doi: 10.3390/ma12244161.

Environmental and Economic Analysis of FDM, SLS and MJF Additive Manufacturing Technologies

Vincenzo Tagliaferri  1 , Federica Trovalusci  1 , Stefano Guarino  2 , Simone Venettacci  2
Affiliations

Environmental and Economic Analysis of FDM, SLS and MJF Additive Manufacturing Technologies

Vincenzo Tagliaferri et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

In this study, the authors present a comparative analysis of different additive manufacturing (AM) technologies for high-performance components. Four 3D printers, currently available on the Italian national manufacturing market and belonging to three different AM technologies, were considered. The analysis focused on technical aspects to highlight the characteristics and performance limits of each technology, economic aspects to allow for an assessment of the costs associated with the different processes, and environmental aspects to focus on the impact of the production cycles associated with these technologies on the ecosystem, resources and human health. This study highlighted the current limits of additive manufacturing technologies in terms of production capacity in the case of large-scale production of plastic components, especially large ones. At the same time, this study highlights how the geometry of the object to be developed greatly influences the optimal choice between the various AM technologies, in both technological and economic terms. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the technology that exhibits the greatest limitations hindering mass production due to production times and costs, but also due to the associated environmental impact.

Keywords: additive manufacturing; fused deposition modeling; life cycle assessment; multi-jet fusion; selective laser sintering.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geometries of the six components analyzed.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Layer by layer deposition technique (a); qualitative arrangement of component 1 in the EOS printer chamber (b).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Life cycle of the EOS P396 3D printer.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Life cycle of the HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 3D printer.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Life cycle of the sPro 60 HD 3D printer.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Life cycle of the Fortus 450mc 3D printer.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Annual production capacity of the various 3D printers for every component examined.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Total production costs for each component/printer case study.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Bar chart of annual profits for each case study analyzed.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Recovery period of the initial investment.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Normalized impact potentials for each 3D printer.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Cumulative potential impacts for each 3D printer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bandyopadhyay A., Heer B. Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Structures. Mater. Sci. Eng. R Rep. 2018;129:1–16. doi: 10.1016/j.mser.2018.04.001. - DOI
    1. Eyers D.R., Potter A.T. Industrial Additive Manufacturing: A Manufacturing Systems Perspective. Comput. Ind. 2017;92:208–218. doi: 10.1016/j.compind.2017.08.002. - DOI
    1. Kruth J.P., Leu M.C., Nakagawa T. Progress in Additive Manufacturing and Rapid Prototyping. CIRP Ann. Manuf. Technol. 1998;47:525–540. doi: 10.1016/S0007-8506(07)63240-5. - DOI
    1. Bourell D., Kruth J.P., Leu M., Levy G., Rosen D., Beese A.M., Clare A. Materials for Additive Manufacturing. CIRP Ann. Manuf. Technol. 2017;66:659–681. doi: 10.1016/j.cirp.2017.05.009. - DOI
    1. Bose S., Ke D., Sahasrabudhe H., Bandyopadhyay A. Additive Manufacturing of Biomaterials. Prog. Mater. Sci. 2018;93:45–111. doi: 10.1016/j.pmatsci.2017.08.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources