Environmental Techno-Economic Assessment of Direct LPBF Waste Powder Reuse in Plasma-Based DEDBeta

Background

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) requires high-quality metal powders with strict requirements regarding particle size distribution, morphology, flowability and contamination. During processing, powder may become unsuitable for further LPBF use, although it may still retain substantial material value for other additive manufacturing processes.

Plasma-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED) can process a broader range of powder sizes and feedstock conditions, making it a promising route for the direct reuse of LPBF waste powder. Direct reuse could avoid energy- and resource-intensive steps such as re-atomisation or conventional recycling. Its overall benefit depends on environmental impacts, technical performance, material utilisation and economic conditions.

Aim

This thesis will assess the environmental and techno-economic potential of directly reusing LPBF waste powder in plasma-based DED. The study will compare direct reuse with virgin powder production, powder conditioning, re-atomisation and conventional recycling, using experimental substitution ratios and prospective higher-reuse scenarios where appropriate.

Tasks

• Review LCA and eTEA methodologies, additive manufacturing, metal powder production, powder reuse and aluminium recycling
• Define the goal and scope, functional unit, system boundaries and relevant environmental and techno-economic indicators
• Develop comparison scenarios covering virgin powder, experimentally investigated reuse ratios, prospective higher-reuse scenarios, powder conditioning, re-atomisation and conventional recycling
• Collect and evaluate inventory data for powder production, powder conditioning, DED processing, electricity, shielding and carrier gases, material losses and post-processing
• Develop the environmental model using SimaPro or a comparable LCA tool
• Develop a techno-economic model including material, energy, processing and waste-management costs
• Integrate technical performance, environmental impacts and economic indicators within an eTEA framework
• Compare environmental indicators such as CO₂-equivalent emissions and energy demand
• Compare techno-economic indicators such as material utilisation, processing cost and cost per functional unit
• Conduct sensitivity and scenario analyses for waste-powder substitution, powder allocation, deposition efficiency, powder preparation, electricity mix, powder and energy costs, and process productivity
• Identify break-even conditions under which direct reuse becomes environmentally and economically advantageous
• Discuss hotspots, data gaps and recommendations for future experimental work

Your Profile

• Master’s student interested in sustainability, additive manufacturing, circular material use and process-chain assessment
• Background in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, environmental engineering, materials science, sustainability or a related field
• Basic understanding of Life Cycle Assessment and/or techno-economic assessment, or strong willingness to learn
• Interest in combining experimental process data with environmental and economic modelling
• Structured working style and ability to work carefully with assumptions, datasets and literature sources
• Experience with SimaPro, GaBi, openLCA or comparable software is beneficial but not required
• Experience with MATLAB, Python, Excel or other tools for data analysis and scenario modelling is beneficial

Application

Please submit:

• CV
• Transcript of records
• One previous piece of scientific or technical writing
• A short one-page outline addressing:
• a possible functional unit
• proposed system boundaries
• relevant comparison scenarios
• possible environmental, technical and economic data sources
• suitable environmental and techno-economic indicators
• one major uncertainty expected in the assessment

Contact

Yiyun Tong
Chair of Materials Engineering of Additive Manufacturing
Technical University of Munich

yiyun.tong@tum.de
+49 89 289 55372