Sustainability of Product Life Cycle and Manufacturing

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the stages of the product life cycle, sustainable manufacturing processes (machining, molding, casting, AM), and environmental regulations in electronics.

BOL

Beginning of Life; the design and development stage of a product's life cycle.

MOL

Middle of Life; the stage of use during a product's life cycle.

EOL

End-of-life; the stage when a product is discarded.

Closed-loop product

A product for which elements used in production are reused, recycled, or re-manufactured after use to support sustainability.

Life-cycle sustainability assessment

The analysis of a product's environmental impact over its entire lifetime; it is a component of Design for the Environment (DfE).

Design for the Environment (DfE)

A thinking or rethinking of product design aimed at reducing complexity and increasing sustainability through pollution prevention, material recycling, and proper disposal.

System level factors (Machining)

Factors considered in machining sustainability at the system level, including productivity, power consumption, and emissions.

Process level factors (Machining)

Factors considered in machining sustainability at the process level, including cutting fluid, air quality, and waste treatment and disposal.

Sustainable Machining Cutting Fluid Alternatives

Methodologies introduced to reduce harmful fumes and toxic runoff, including near dry machining, micro-flood technologies, and eco-friendly cutting fluids.

Sustainable Machining Fields of Study

Areas of research focus including increasing tool life, reducing cutting energy, and improving process optimization.

Sheet Metal Forming Sustainability Factors

Considerations including process energy consumption, material waste, the number of forming steps required, and lubrication and temperature effects.

Injection Molding Sustainability Factors

Considerations including scrap rates, recycling of scraps, use of all-electric machines, and the use of recycled materials.

Pre-production pellets

Raw materials delivered to plants for injection molding that can contaminate water and beaches if plastic spills occur during transportation or storage.

Thermoforming Bio-plastics

Materials such as $PLA$, $PET$, and $HDPE$ used to reduce the reliance on petroleum products.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) Sustainability Challenges

Issues including high energy consumption, environmental impact of material preparation/recycling, and finishing processes.

WEEE

The EU's Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment.

RoHS

The Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.