Scrap to Metal Powder: Circular Metal Additive Manufacturing for Increased Resource Efficiency and Resilience (SCARLETT) 

Additive manufacturing (AM) is considered as one of the most sustainable manufacturing processes thanks to near-net shape manufacturing and full material utilization. In comparison to subtractive manufacturing processes, material in metal AM is only used where needed and thus significantly reduce material waste, especially when powder can be reused. However, there is still a big potential for improvement of material reuse as well as finding ways for recycling of disqualified powder. During powder bed AM processing, the most common AM process used industrially, typically 20 to 40% of the powder feedstock is used to build components. Hence, 60 to 80% of the powder feedstock should be reused after each manufacturing cycle. However, the quality degradation during each production cycle requires a regular replacement with virgin powder when necessary. Hence, typically powder feedstock is not reused more than ten times, often much less, resulting in expensive process waste, especially in the case of highly alloyed materials. SCARLETT is aiming to increase resource efficiency through the optimization of AM waste streams (used powder, printed support structures, after-life and failed components) which will lead to a transition from a linear to a circular economy for AM. Hence, by transforming metal waste into high-value metal powder for AM, SCARLETT will further increase sustainability of metal AM, increase resilience and reduce the need for extraction of natural resources.

Project name: Scrap to Metal Powder: Circular Metal Additive Manufacturing for Increased Resource Efficiency and Resilience (SCARLETT) 

Reference: 2024-03072

Status: Active

Call: Ökad resurseffektivitet och resiliens

Project type: Feasibility study

Administrator: Vinnova

Project coordinators: Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB

Project partners: SWERIM AB, Siemens Energy AB, Electro Optical Systems Finland Oy, Alfa Laval Technologies AB

Project leader: Eduard Hryha

E-mail: hryha@chalmers.se

Start date: 2024-12-01

End date: 2025-05-01

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