Given the high costs and limited supply of critical minerals, using additive manufacturing to create critical mineral-based products is a promising prospect. Conventional manufacturing processes are often uneconomical for producing geometrically complex designs and highly customized products, particularly in batch and low-volume production scenarios. In these scenarios additive manufacturing outperforms conventional manufacturing not only in the cost of production but also in terms of material waste, lead times, and environmental impacts. Currently, the product of critical mineral industries are concentrates that are shipped to metal forming industries for further processing. This chapter elaborates upon the possibilities of critical mineral powders and wires as an emerging product from critical mineral industries. The associated sustainability challenges and opportunities, especially concerning recycled minerals, are encapsulated.

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

Critical Minerals as Feedstocks for Additive Manufacturing

  • Amrit Raj Paul,
  • Sunil Mehla,
  • Premkumar Kothavade,
  • Milan Brandt,
  • Maciej Mazur,
  • Suresh K. Bhargava

摘要

Given the high costs and limited supply of critical minerals, using additive manufacturing to create critical mineral-based products is a promising prospect. Conventional manufacturing processes are often uneconomical for producing geometrically complex designs and highly customized products, particularly in batch and low-volume production scenarios. In these scenarios additive manufacturing outperforms conventional manufacturing not only in the cost of production but also in terms of material waste, lead times, and environmental impacts. Currently, the product of critical mineral industries are concentrates that are shipped to metal forming industries for further processing. This chapter elaborates upon the possibilities of critical mineral powders and wires as an emerging product from critical mineral industries. The associated sustainability challenges and opportunities, especially concerning recycled minerals, are encapsulated.