Research on sustainable aspects in wire arc additive manufacturing of nickel-based alloy components

In recent decades, metal additive manufacturing (AM) has undergone remarkable advancements and become increasingly significant in manufacturing industries. Among metal AM technologies, wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) has great potential for producing medium to large-sized parts and becomes a good choice in the sustainable manufacturing context. This paper aims to analyze the sustainable aspects of WAAM and compare it with CNC machining via the production of an Inconel 625 alloy component. The evaluation is based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis methods. The results demonstrate that WAAM has extremely higher performance in terms of environmental friendliness and economic efficiency versus CNC machining. When the buy-to-fly ratio in CNC machining approach equals 4 and the material utilization factor in WAAM equals 0.8, that the ‘WAAM + CNC machining’ method is approximately three times more environmentally friendly and 3.2 times more cost-effective compared to ‘CNC machining’ pathway. This confirms that WAAM combined with CNC machining is an effective approach to meeting current demands for sustainable production