There is a growing demand for data regarding the environmental and economic performance of additive manufacturing to establish the role of this technology in the future circular industrial economy. This paper provides a comparative analysis of direct energy deposition technology with conventional manufacturing, specifically iron casting, in the context of the repairing capabilities of the direct energy deposition system in a damaged glass bottle mold. Making use of already established methodologies for environmental and economic assessment, a life cycle assessment and a life cycle costing study was conducted on each scenario to provide a holistic perspective on the advantages and limitations of each system. With the gathered life cycle inventory, the main environmental impacts and life cycle costs were determined. The hybrid repairing scenario results show a reduction of the environmental impacts and life cycle costs by avoiding resource consumption in the production of a new mold, with underlying economic advantages identified beyond the calculated results. Through strategic integration based in life cycle approaches, it is concluded that direct energy deposition technology can play a key role in the sustainable development of tooling and manufacturing industries, especially in products with large dimensions, complex geometry, and customized design.

Currently, considering the rising concern in climate change, there is a clear necessity for technologies that can prolong the useful life of products through the ability to repair, re-manufacture and refurbish. As such, additive manufacturing has been a subject of research due to its design and resource consumption capabilities. However, there is a lack of more detailed information regarding environmental performances, especially in Directed Energy Deposition technology. The present paper presents a life-cycle assessment of the production and use of Directed Energy Deposition, making use of foreground data to build a life-cycle inventory and quantify the potential impacts. The equipment is analyzed for its refurbishment capabilities on an obsolete mold, and compared with the environmental impact of producing a new mold through conventional technology. The compiled inventory with detailed and primary information will enrich the current literature on this technology. The impact results show that the robot, deposition table and security cell are the most relevant subsystems for the system production impacts. In the refurbishment analysis, the refurbished mold part has lower impacts than the conventionally produced, thus showing that there is great potential in using additive manufacturing for circular economy loops.