Sustainable machining approach by integrating the environmental assessment within the CAD/CAM/CNC chain

Abstract

This paper reports on a sustainable machining approach based on dynamic environmental assessment integration through the CAD/CAM/CNC chain. To achieve this objective, the framework for supporting the environmental assessment features key environmental indicators and simplified LCA database. Key environmental indicators are composed of ‘environmental metrics’ and ‘environmental impacts’. To implement the environmental assessment, cutting data are first extracted from STEP-NC file, a standard extending STEP to machining process data. Then, through the environmental metrics evaluation, the metrics quantities (Input/output flows of the machining process) are translated into environmental impacts by the help of the simplified LCA database. The obtained environmental profile is used by the CAD/CAM entity as a decision-aid, providing a better understanding of the environmental impacts of their machining technologies.