Preparation of a study for comparative economic and ecological evaluation of additive and conventional manufacturing technologies in industrial production

The study examined the resource efficiency of additive manufacturing processes, often summarized under the synonym "3D printing". Two reference components – one having a structurally optimized design and one a conventional design – were compared by means of environmental evaluation (LCA) and a comparative economic analysis. The expected result was an evaluation of resource consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along the entire life cycle of the proposed reference components.