Environmental Performance and Key Characteristics in Additive Manufacturing: A Literature Review

Additive Manufacturing (AM) opens new opportunities for the economy and the society and the global market of this technology is growing rapidly. However, quality assurance remains the main barrier for a broader integration of AM in the industrial sector. Most quality-related problems of AM are caused by uncontrolled variations in the production chain. By identifying the key controlling parameters or the “Key Characteristics (KC)” and introducing the proper process control protocol for these parameters, the effect of these variations can be limited and expensive monitoring, rework, repair and quality-related problems can often be avoided. In addition, these KCs can also be used to achieve sustainability in AM. In addition of providing a product with a quality that satisfies the client's requirements, the manufacturing resources usage (energy and material) can be minimized. The work presented in this paper reviews the recent literature related to sustainability in AM and proposes a new approach into how the key characteristics, which are normally used to reduce variations in production, can give an insight to a sustainable AM.