Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Opportunities and Challenges of Utilizing Metal Additive Manufacturing Approaches for Sustainable Engineering

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 November 2024 | Viewed by 2764

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jinoop Arackal Narayanan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Mechanical Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering & Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BX, UK
Interests: sustainable additive manufacturing; laser additive manufacturing; metal additive manufacturing; material characterization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Farzaneh Kaji

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Divergent 3D, Torrance, CA 90502, USA
Interests: additive manufacturing; computer numerical control; machine learning; laser material processing; vision systems; robotics

Dr. Sunil Pathak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

HiLASE Centre, Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, 252 41 Dolni Brezany, Czech Republic
Interests: advanced machining; surface metrology; surface engineering; deposition technologies; nano-finishing; gear engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Ehsan Toyserkani

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Interests: additive manufacturing; in-situ monitoring and closed-loop control of additive manufacturing; laser material processing; mechatronics design; bio-additive manufacturing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a new Special Issue of Sustainability on the topic of "Sustainable Metal Additive Manufacturing". Metal Additive Manufacturing (MAM) technologies have revolutionized industrial manufacturing in the engineering and medical sectors, enabling the production of high-performance components. MAM encompasses both direct and indirect processes, offering design freedom, mass customization, and minimal material wastage through layer-by-layer build-up.

While MAM has made significant strides, real-world challenges still hinder its complete deployment in industries. These challenges include non-standard material properties, lack of standard practices, defect formation, geometrical issues, and material non-homogeneity. Despite the above limitations, the sustainable nature of MAM processes attracts the deployment of the technology for various applications. Significant research is being undertaken across the globe on the reuse of industrial waste for MAM, reuse of feedstock material, process optimization for improving sustainability, etc. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to gather original research, high-quality review articles, and short communications that address the sustainability issues in MAM.

We invite contributions from all relevant disciplines to shed light on recent advances and potential solutions to sustainability challenges in MAM. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Process optimization for metal additive manufacturing to build parts faster with minimal wastage;
Employability of reused feedstock material for MAM;
Deployment of machining waste for MAM;
Effect of process conditions on the process efficiency and quality of MAM components;
Process monitoring for improving the quality of MAM built parts;
Non-destructive analysis of MAM built components;
Sustainable approaches to enhance the performance of MAM components;
Sustainable post-processing techniques for MAM parts;
In situ and ex-situ quality control of MAM parts;
Life cycle assessment (LCA) of MAM components;
Numerical and analytical modeling of the MAM process to improve process efficiency;
Comparative studies between different feedstock material sources.

Dr. Jinoop Arackal Narayanan
Dr. Farzaneh Kaji
Dr. Sunil Pathak
Prof. Dr. Ehsan Toyserkani
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

metal additive manufacturing
sustainable additive manufacturing
3D printing
waste reduction
recycling
reuse

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

15 pages, 5040 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Environmental Impact and Mechanical Properties of Inconel 625 Produced Using Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

by J. Iain Sword, Alexander Galloway and Athanasios Toumpis

Sustainability 2024, 16(10), 4178; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16104178 - 16 May 2024

Viewed by 230

Abstract

Inconel 625 is a nickel-based superalloy widely used in industries such as energy, space, and defence, due to its strength and corrosion resistance. It is traditionally time- and resource-intensive to machine, leading to increased environmental impact and material waste. Using additive manufacturing (AM) technology enables a reduction in resource consumption during the manufacture of high value components, as material is only deposited where it is required. This study compares the environmental impact of manufacturing an Inconel 625 impeller through machining and wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) by employing established life cycle assessment methods. WAAM shows significant advantages, cutting energy consumption threefold and reducing material waste from 85% to 35%. The current work also evaluates the mechanical properties of WAAM-produced components through tensile and axial fatigue testing, in addition to the use of optical and electron microscopy for metallurgical analysis and fractography. This demonstrates yield and ultimate tensile strengths exceeding industrial standards, with comparable or superior fatigue life to other AM methods. The improved fatigue performance extends the service life of components, bolstering sustainability by reducing the need for frequent replacements, thereby lessening associated environmental impacts. These findings underscore the promise of WAAM in enhancing both environmental sustainability and mechanical performance in manufacturing Inconel 625 components. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities and Challenges of Utilizing Metal Additive Manufacturing Approaches for Sustainable Engineering)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 5245 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Interlayer Composition on the Properties of Laser-Directed-Energy-Deposition-Based Additively Manufactured Copper-Stainless Steel Wall Structures

by Sunil Yadav, C. P. Paul, A. K. Rai, A. N. Jinoop and S. K. Dixit

Sustainability 2024, 16(2), 519; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16020519 - 7 Jan 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 957

Abstract

Laser-directed energy deposition (LDED) is one of the advanced techniques used for the sustainable manufacturing of engineering components with minimal material wastage and higher performance. This paper reports an investigation on LDED-based additive manufacturing of compositionally graded Copper (Cu)-stainless steel (SS) wall structures for improved performance of tooling components. Three different approaches, such as Cu-SS direct joint, 20% graded Cu-SS, and 50% graded Cu-SS, are used to build the wall structures. Optical microscopy of LDED-built graded samples reveals defect-free deposition of Cu-SS direct joint and 50% graded Cu-SS wall structures at identified process parameters, whereas the 20%-graded wall yields micro-cracks in the lower Cu region. The elemental distribution shows gradual traditions in the weight percentages of Cu and Fe along the built wall. Furthermore, the ultimate tensile strengths of the direct Cu-SS joint wall structure and the 50%-graded Cu-SS wall structure are higher than the strength of LDED-deposited Cu, while the 20%-graded Cu-SS wall structure has lower ultimate tensile strength than the strength of LDED-deposited Cu. Lower ultimate strength and failure in the lower-Cu zone of 20% graded Cu-SS wall structure can be attributed to the presence of micro-cracks in the Cu₂₀SS₈₀ zone of 20%-graded Cu-SS wall structures. The study establishes LDED as a technique for building multi-material components promoting sustainability in terms of manufacturing and component performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities and Challenges of Utilizing Metal Additive Manufacturing Approaches for Sustainable Engineering)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 9927 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization of Al-12Si Thin-Wall Properties Fabricated with Laser Direct Energy Deposition

by Raihan Rumman, Mallaiah Manjaiah, Stéphane Touzé, Ruby Alice Sims, Jean-Yves Hascoët and Jamie Scott Quinton

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 12806; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151712806 - 24 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 987

Abstract

Additive manufacturing is an emerging process that is used to manufacture industrial parts layer by layer and can produce a wide range of geometries for various applications. AM parts are adopted for aerospace, automobiles, antennas, gyroscopes, and waveguides in electronics. However, there are several challenges existing in manufacturing Al components using the AM process, and their mechanical and microstructural properties are not yet fully validated. In the present study, a gas-atomised powder of a eutectic Al-12Si alloy was used as feedstock for the Laser Direct Energy Deposition (LDED) process. A SEM analysis of Al-12Si powder used for processing illustrated that particles possess appropriate morphology for LDED. A numerical control system was used to actuate the deposition head towards printing positions. The deposited samples revealed the presence of Al-rich and Al-Si eutectic regions. The porosity content in the samples was found to be around 2.6%. Surface profile roughness measurements and a microstructural analysis of the samples were also performed to assess the fabricated sample in terms of the roughness, porosity, and distribution of Al and Al/Si eutectic phases. The tensile properties of fabricated thin walls were better compared to casted Al alloys due to the uniform distribution of Si in each layer. Micro-hardness tests on the deposited samples showed a hardness of 95 HV, which is equivalent to casted and powder bed fusion melting samples. The gas atomised Al-12Si powders are highly reflective to a laser and also quick oxidation takes place, which causes defects, porosity, and the balling effect during fabrication. The results can be used as a base guide for the further fabrication of aerospace component design with high structural integrity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities and Challenges of Utilizing Metal Additive Manufacturing Approaches for Sustainable Engineering)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Opportunities and Challenges of Utilizing Metal Additive Manufacturing Approaches for Sustainable Engineering

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (3 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI