Environmental impacts of self-replicating three-dimensional printers

Self-replicating three-dimensional printers allow the manufacturing of parts necessary for the fabrication of cloned machines. This paradigm is particularly attractive to desktop printers, as it fosters the distributed manufacturing principle. This study assesses the endpoint environmental impacts of a self-replicating desktop three-dimensional printer through a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment. The impacts of self-replication are measured...