Environmental Sustainability of Laser Metal Deposition: The Role of Feedstock Powder and Feedstock Utilization Factor

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is commonly promoted as a sustainable technology because of its capability to produce engineering components of complex geometries in a single step. Prior studies on environmental impact assessment of metal AM have underestimated the resource consumption due to the overestimation of the material utilization factor and neglecting the energy consumption needed to produce the desirable feedstock powder. This paper aims to address the role of feedstock powder and the actual material utilization factor in environmental impact assessment of laser metal deposition. Recycling and reuse of the unfused powder as the feedstock for subsequent depositions are proposed.