Christian Spreafico, Samruddha Kokare
Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is a promising approach for the sustainable production of large-scale metal components. This study presents the first prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) focused on the gate-to-gate manufacturing stage of seven patented, currently immature WAAM technologies. These technologies are projected to reach industrial maturity by 2035 and are evaluated in both laboratory-scale and anticipated industrial-scale configurations. Key findings reveal that future WAAM systems may reduce environmental impacts by an average of 45% at the lab-scale and 74% at the industrial scale compared to current WAAM systems. Multi-axis WAAM also demonstrates environmental advantages, with a 21% lower impact compared to planar setups at the lab scale. These sustainability improvements, which remain consistent across various future scenarios, highlight promising pathways for improving WAAM technologies, particularly favouring plasma-based and multi-axis systems for large-scale applications.
@article{7b284da3-ec21-4d7c-8f0c-644f7d5ad90b,
title={Prospective life cycle assessment of fut},
author={Christian Spreafico and Samruddha Kokare},
year={2026},
language={en}
}TY - JOUR TI - Prospective life cycle assessment of fut AU - Christian Spreafico AU - Samruddha Kokare PY - 2026 LA - en ER -
Increasing volumes of waste printed circuit boards from obsolete electronic equipment posed escalating environmental risks and resource losses due to
Printed circuit boards (PCBs) from electronic gadgets at the end of their useful life period are currently being dumped in landfills or incinerated, c
Jirang Cui, Hans Jørgen Roven
Rapid growth in electronic equipment consumption has generated large quantities of electronic waste containing hazardous substances and high-value met