Additive manufacturing - a sustainable manufacturing route

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies allow developing and manufacturing very complex shaped parts and functional products with a high level of customization, being a great alternative to Traditional Manufacturing (TM) methods like injection molding, die-casting or machining. Due to the importance of cleaner production in the field of manufacturing processes, sustainability of AM processes needs to be assessed in order to make easier its acceptance and implementation in the industry. Furthermore, the manufacturers can improve their competitiveness and profitability by considering the ecological aspects during the manufacturing step of a product. This paper gives a survey on sustainability issues related to AM.