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to 3D printed production) could provide environmental beneits later in the
course of a product's lifecycle. For example, optimized 3D printed products
could be lighter in weight, have superior performance or greater durability.
The results were mixed. On average, compared to traditional manufactur-
ing machines, 3D printers that used polymer-based materials consumed more
than 10 times the amount of electricity to make a part of the same weight.
Industrial-scale 3D printers that used lasers (or heat) to solidify powdered
polymers generated an estimated 65 percent more leftover plastic waste mate-
rial than did the injection molding process. Some of the printers analyzed used
a category of plastic called thermoset plastic that's not recyclable since it tends
to lose its material properties if it's reheated or reused. These indings indicate
that despite the precision of the 3D printing process, not all 3D printing is a
wasteless manufacturing process.
The Atkins study discovered that the manufacturing process for printing
printed plastic objects that had lots of large internal hollows was particularly
wasteful. Hollow objects need more support material which generates more
leftover excess plastic powder. While some excess support material can be
recycled, Atkins researchers found that on average, 40 percent of excess raw
plastic powder was re-usable in later print jobs while 60 percent typically got
dumped into the landill. The good news is that water-soluble support materi-
als are becoming increasingly popular.
Atkins researchers discovered that printing plastic does have some envi-
ronmental beneits when compared to the injection molding process, namely
the cooling process. Thanks to their slow production process, most of the
time 3D printed parts aren't extremely hot after they're made. In the injection
molding process, when plastic nurdles are aggressively pressed into a mold
they become very hot and require coolants. Frequently, to pry plastic out of
an injection mold, factories use toxic chemicals called “release agents.”
In contrast to printing plastic, 3D printing metal enjoyed several advan-
tages over traditional metal manufacturing techniques. The Atkins Study
found that nearly 100 percent of leftover metal powder from a print job
could be re-used. In contrast, traditional metal manufacturing (grinding,
machining or molding) processes are more environmentally wasteful. Some
metal manufacturing methods leave 90 percent of the raw metal behind in
waste byproduct. For example, it can take up to 15 kilograms of raw metal
to make a 1 kilogram airplane part.
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