Environmental impact of extrusion-based additive manufacturing: generic model, power measurements and influence of printing resolution

Abstract

We focus in this paper on the embodied and operational contribution to climate change of a concrete-printing robotic cell. We first propose, in the case of extrusion-based additive manufacturing, a simple functional unit that relates a volume-based material impact and a time-based process impact through the printing head velocity and the filament cross section. We then compute, for two robotic arms/bi-component case studies, the embodied impact related to the production of the printing cells themselves and measure their hourly electrical power consumptions. Our results and analysis suggest that the relative contribution to climate change of the printing process alone depends mostly on its spatial resolution. This suggests finally the existence of an optimal printing resolution that may allow for the highest material saving while minimizing the process-related climate change impact.