Additive manufacturing for the automotive industry: on the life-cycle environmental implications of material substitution and lightweighting through re-design

Abstract

The automotive sector has recently been taking measures to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for the mobility of ground vehicles. Light-weighting, via material substitution, and the re-designing of components or even a combination of the two, have been identified as a crucial solution. Additive manufacturing (AM) can be used to technologically complement or even replace conventional manufacturing in several industrial fields. The enabling of complexity-for-free (re) designs is inherent in additive manufacturing. It is expected that certain benefits can be achieved from the adoption of re-design techniques, via AM, that rely on topological optimisation, e.g., a reduced use of resources in both the material production and use phases. However, the consequent higher specific energy consumption and the higher embodied impact of feedstock materials could result in unsustainable environmental costs. This paper investigates the case of the light-weighting of an automobile component to quantify the outcomes of the systematic integration of re-designing and material substitution. A bracket, originally cast in iron, has been manufactured by means of a powder bed-based AM technique in AlSi10Mg through an optimized topology. Both manufacturing routes have been evaluated through a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) within cradle-to-grave boundaries. A 69%-lightweighting has been achieved, and the carbon dioxide emissions and energy demands of both scenarios have been compared. Besides the use-phase-related savings in terms of both energy and carbon footprint due to the lightweighting, the results highlight the environmental trade-offs and prompt the consideration of such a manufacturing process as an integral part of sustainable product development.

Advances in 3D printing for polymer composites: A review

“…PBF 3D printing is a 3D printing technology that builds 3D objects layer by layer with locally melting powder materials, which has the advantages of high material utilization, large design freedom, and the ability to fabricate complex structures, and is widely used in aerospace, 83,84 biomedicine, 85,86 and automotive manufacturing. 87,88 The printing schematic is shown in Figure 4A. 89 The powder material is firstly laid uniformly on the working platform to form a thin layer, following a high-precision heat source (e.g., laser or electron beam) melts the powder point by point to form a molten pool according to the preset 3D modeling data, then the molten pool is cooled and cured to generate a fusion layer (Figure 4A 0 ), and then the working platform is lowered to a certain height, and a new powder layer is laid on top of the cured layer, the heat source scans and melts the powder again, and so on until the whole 3D object is constructed layer by layer.…”

“…PBF 3D printing is a 3D printing technology that builds 3D objects layer by layer with locally melting powder materials, which has the advantages of high material utilization, large design freedom, and the ability to fabricate complex structures, and is widely used in aerospace, 83,84 biomedicine, 85,86 and automotive manufacturing 87,88 . The printing schematic is shown in Figure 4A 89 .…”

Applications of plastics in the automotive industry: Current trends and future perspectives

“…This technology offers unparalleled flexibility and innovation in the design and manufacturing of automotive parts. Key to its application are the diverse plastic resins and processes, which enable the production of components that are lighter, stronger, and more complex than those made with traditional manufacturing methods 37,38 …”

“…Key to its application are the diverse plastic resins and processes, which enable the production of components that are lighter, stronger, and more complex than those made with traditional manufacturing methods. 37,38 Four additive manufacturing processes are commonly implemented in the automotive industry: fused deposition modeling (FDM), selective laser sintering (SLS), stereolithography (SLA), and materials jetting. 39,40 As shown in Figure 1A, FDM works by extruding thermoplastic filaments through a heated nozzle, laying down material layer by layer to build a part.…”

Nanostructuring of Additively Manufactured 316L Stainless Steel Using High-Pressure Torsion Technique: An X-ray Line Profile Analysis Study

“…AM can be used in a wide range of industries, including aerospace [4][5][6], medical [7][8][9] and automotive [10,11] industries, due to its ability to create complex components and parts [12][13][14][15][16]. Furthermore, AM provides additional benefits, such as reduced material waste [1,12], the quick production of prototypes [14,15], a reduced cost for small production runs [12,17], environmental friendliness [18], and supply chain flexibility [19,20].…”