Eco-design for metal additive manufacturing (EcoDAM): an integrated framework linking material, process, and lightweight design

Abstract Metal powder-based Additive Manufacturing (AM) presents significant sustainability potential, but its environmental performance is highly sensitive to the interactions between material quality, process conditions, and lightweight design. This study addresses this challenge by developing EcoDAM, an integrated eco-design framework specifically tailored to metal AM, aimed at overcoming the limitations of isolated design or process optimizations. The methodology combines a parametric Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model, an AI-supported FMEA‑TRIZ failure investigation method, and advanced lattice-based structural optimization to evaluate sustainability as a coupled material-process-design problem. Results from the parametric LCA show that powder atomization and refining remain dominant environmental hotspots, but that controlled powder quality relaxation can reduce Global Warming Potential by 15–30% depending on regional energy mixes. The failure analysis identifies the admissible boundaries of powder degradation, ensuring that environmentally favorable configurations remain compatible with LPBF stability and mechanical reliability. The lightweight redesign of a diesel engine connecting rod demonstrates the operational power of the framework: a Gyroid-based solution achieved a 52.1% mass reduction while remaining structurally robust under conservative degradation scenarios. Overall, the study shows that sustainable AM outcomes emerge only within a constrained, co‑optimized design region. EcoDAM provides a systematic basis for navigating this region and supports more informed, sustainability‑oriented decisions in metal AM. Graphical abstract EcoDAM: an integrated eco-design framework for metal additive manufacturing linking powder production, powder quality, and lightweight design through environmental assessment, failure analysis, and design optimization.