Assessing the environmental and economic performances of 3D printing processes for manufacturing printed circuit boards

Though extensive efforts have been invested in developing 3D (3-dimensional) printing processes to produce printed circuit boards (PCBs), the environmental and economic aspects of such processes remain underexamined. To bridge this knowledge gap, we investigate the environmental and economic performances of four 3D printing processes (i.e., fused deposition modeling [FDM], direct ink writing [DIW], inkjet printing [IJP], and aerosol-jet printing [AJP]) for PCB production employing an ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA) method and a traditional life cycle costing (LCC) method, in comparison with the most widely-used PCB manufacturing process, i.e., the subtractive process. Our findings indicate that in general, the environmental performance of the four 3D printing processes is superior to that of the subtractive process, and substantial environmental benefits occur in the preprocessing stage of the 3D printing processes due to lower energy and material consumptions. However, in terms of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission, only FDM is environmentally beneficial, as the carbon emission of this process is less than 40 % of those of the other four processes, while the other 3D printing processes emit more CO₂ than the subtractive process. Additionally, only FDM is economically feasible to replace the subtractive process in terms of life cycle cost, as its life cycle cost is merely less than 20 % of those of the other four processes. Again, the life cycle costs of DIW, IJP, and AJP are much greater than those of the baseline due to the high costs of silver inks and AJP printers. The sensitivity analysis underscores the influence of circuit density and thickness on the processes' overall environmental and economic performances. Furthermore, based on the observations, we offer practical implications and research perspectives to facilitate the adoption of 3D printing in electronics manufacturing.