EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

Nowadays, climate change and environmental degradation have become drivers for technology developers, in particular for Material Science. The traditional developers approach, based on the mere study of mechanical, chemical, etc. properties, have demonstrated its limits. The production of many materials present high potential environmental impacts throughout their life cycle, that is reflected in a challenge of improving their recycling or reuse. In the development of new materials, a holistic strategy that includes the sustainability assessment in the research and validation strategies becomes a fundamental principle to face the climate change. Powder Metallurgy (PM) provides environmental advantages over conventional manufacturing processes. PM frequently manufactures net-shapes components from a wide range of alloys that reduces the utilization of materials (e.g., no machining scraps) and energy consumption (i.e., melting is not required).
The goal of NEWMAN project (Nickel frEe poWders for high perforMAnce compoNents) is to drastically reduce the amount of Nickel in metal sintering contest. The NEWMAN project, supported by EIT Raw Materials, is demonstrating the actual impact of Nickel-free steel powders (NFP) for the production of high-performance components. In this regard, NEWMAN is carrying out a series of actions to validate the use of NFP to produce prototypes and to assess the environmental performance versus the traditional powders for the same mechanical properties. To achieve these objectives, NEWMAN is demonstrating the use of NFP under various aspects: economic, mechanical performance and environmental validation. The three validation actions are carried out simultaneously within the project duration and the results are continuously shared among partners. These exchanges among the validation steps create powerful synergies in order to maximize the NFP performances. The paper will review the integrated validation approach (i.e., technical, economic, and environmental) proposed in NEWMAN and discuss the pros and cons of the use of this method in material development.