Abstract
Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM) has revolutionized industrial manufacturing by enabling the fabrication of lighter, stronger, complex and customized metallic parts. LAM is attractive mainly due to the various freedoms offered by the technology, like—shape design freedom, material design freedom, logistic freedom and post-processing freedom. LAM technology is considered as a green technology due to two major attributes: minimum material wastage as compared to conventional manufacturing techniques and direct conversion of 3D models to 3D components eliminating intermediate development stages. In addition, LAM possess significant potential to build highly efficient functional components with minimal life cycle impact. Thus, the wider adaptation of LAM is dependent on the sustainability of the technology, which is primarily dependent on economic, environmental and societal effects of LAM. Although LAM paves a way towards sustainability in manufacturing, achieving complete sustainability is challenging due to the use of support structures, higher energy consumption, need for post-processing, etc. Thus, assessing the environmental impact and cost-effectiveness at each stages of the life cycle of LAM built components play a significant role in wider adoption of the technology. This chapter compiles an overview of LAM technology and the various associated processes. It discusses the need for sustainability in manufacturing, the factors governing and challenging the sustainability of LAM technology. A comprehensive comparative assessment of LAM with other conventional manufacturing techniques is compiled and the various theoretical models are discussed in detail. At the end, the suggestions and future directions to improve the sustainability of LAM is deliberated. This chapter is a quick-start for novices to understand this novel technology and a reference document for researchers in the field.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Sustainability for 3D Printing |
Editors | K Sandhu, S Singh, C Prakash, K Subburaj, S Ramakrishna |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 29-54 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9783030752354 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783030752347 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2021 |