Update on the ASM committee meeting on the State of the Art in Material Upcycling for Additive Manufacturing

May 15 2026

I thank ASM sustainable manufacturing committee for organising a highly informative talk by Dr Sweta Baruah on the topic of Materials Upcycling in Additive manufacturing.

As it stands AM is far more material efficient than traditional manufacturing processes— producing less waste than subtractive manufacturing techniques (milling/turning/drilling/grinding).

Yet feedstock cost used in AM remains an energy intensive process. Typical powderisation techniques using gas or water atomisation consume much energy as do wire extrusion processes.

The desire to cut down the input energy serves as a powerful motivator to develop processes that can lower the cost and make AM more sustainable.

Traditional melt processing technologies for making powder or wire help with the reusability of waste streams and reduce energy input because compared to fresh feedstock there is no need for crushing ,chemical treatment,reduction etc.

Yet dramatic improvements in energy input come from new processes like additive friction stir deposition and friction based extrusion. By finely controlling the tribology of the substrate and material to be deposited a part can be built layer by layer. Friction heats it up,softens it which causes deposition and bonding.

The same frictional processes are used to heat up pellets and scraps and then extrude them into wire. These friction assisted methods lead to massive energy savings because now there is no need to pay the price of phase change. It's an entirely solid state process.

These developments make it possible for AM to integrate deeply with traditional manufacturing streams. The massive scrap generated during machining processes could now be used by AM systems to build intricate high value parts. Between industrial waste and AM this arrangement works well. However once the parts do reach the consumer market ,collecting them for recycling would be a big challenge for AM because those parts are generally functional and small. Yet it is encouraging to learn that both industry and academia are collaborating on ways that continue to advance the cause of sustainability. Every small step counts.

I thank ASM for continuing to organise high quality discussions on materials science and look forward to interacting with the experts in the field in the future.

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Akshat Jiwan Sharma

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