A circular approach to foster additive manufacturing early design stages sustainability: a methodological proposal

The design of new products is now influenced by shifting consumer demands and technological advancements. Products must satisfy high-quality standards and have a low environmental impact. New phenomena such as distributed and urban manufacturing are emerging to cope with this. A new manufacturing era is coming where methods that prevent waste, support small workshops and encourage do-it-yourself are crucial. In the early design stage, the process knowledge is minimal, and the decision taken is vital. For this reason, it is essential to support designers in anticipating the impact of decisions on the final product. This paper establishes the groundwork for decision-support methodologies for sustainable design in One-of-a-Kind additive manufacturing prototyping. Our proposed method is applied to a Fused Filament Fabrication case study, wherein we evaluate the impact of nine variables on factors such as process time, energy and material consumption, environmental footprint, and product quality. The initial step aims to generate fresh insights through Taguchi experimentation, while the subsequent step formulates and resolves a multi-objective optimization problem using the NSGA-II algorithm. The resulting Pareto-optimal solutions serve as the basis for a novel visual-based design support tool. The proposed approach can evaluate the trade-offs between product quality and environmental impact by offering users a visual heatmap based on quantitative data. This heatmap can guide the user in the material and production parameter selection. Integrating the decision support tool into the product design process can empower designers to create environmentally responsible products while fostering innovation.