Rerouting material streams in the additive manufacturing value chain (RECIRCLE)

Purpose and goal:

The goal of this project is to increase resource efficiency by applying a methodology based on life cycle assessment (LCA) for the optimization of AM waste streams, leading to a transition from a linear to a circular economy for AM. The exhaust material from identified waste streams will be re-manufactured during the project. This approach takes full advantage of the metal sources by reducing the need for the extraction of natural resources.

Improving sustainability in the metal AM value chain will enable early adopters to fully benefit from the advantages that the technology offers. Expected results and effects:

Successfully using the waste material to produce high-quality parts with re-atomized powder from revert scrap will not only reduce the cost of powder for AM, but it will enable end-users to reduce their ecological footprint when producing metal parts. The application of AM enables clear benefits regarding sustainability by improved functionality and reduced weight that will also be implemented when producing the demonstrators.

The data generated during the project will serve as a valuable resource for LCA calculations due to the lack of available information from the AM value chain. Approach and implementation:

The project is organized in five technical work packages for three years. They are interlinked to apply the reduce, reuse, and recycle principles to increase material efficiency in powder-based metal AM. -WP 1: Environmental impact assessment; -WP 2: Optimized powder atomization based on recycled materials;

-WP 3: Powder characterization and traceability for resource efficiency; -WP4: Quality of produced parts and characterization of material properties; -WP5: Development and evaluation of demonstrators.