International Journal of Environmentally Conscious Design & Manufacturing 

Volume 11, Number 4, 2003-04

NOTE: In order to access the full-text version of the papers below, you need to be a current subscriber of the journal. To subscribe, please click HERE. If you already subscribed, click any link below and you will be taken to the full-text area.

Contents
Contents 

MACHINING OF FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITES: REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH EFFECTS, by M. RAMULU, AND J. KRAMLICH

    Advanced composites continue to grow in use and importance due to their improved performance over traditional homogeneous materials. The increased use of composites is accompanied by an increase in environmental hazards associated with the dust and chip debris derived from machining these materials. Controlling the machining conditions (e.g., such as fiber orientation relative to cutting direction) may control the environmental hazard created by the dust. Particle morphology and airborne concentration determine this environmental hazard. A critical review of published studies indicate that airborne concentration of composite dust can exceed regulatory exposure limits.        

A DECISION-MAKING FRAMEWORK MODEL OF MACHINING PROCESS PLANNING FOR GREEN MANUFACTURING AND ITS APPLICATION, by HUAJUN CAO, FEI.LIU, PING. YAN, HUA ZHANG

     In order to provide an effective approach to assisting decision makers to choose between realistic alternatives on the shop floor for Green Manufacturing, a decision-making framework model of machining process planning for Green Manufacturing is established from three aspects, including decision-making problem set, decision-making objectives and their mapping relationship. The considerations in traditional decision-making of machining process planning are quality, time and cost. But from the point of Green Manufacturing, the factors of resource consumption and environmental impact are considered also in this model. A new algorithm integrating Grey Relation Analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process is proposed to aid the process of decision making, especially for the handling of the relativities of the objectives. A case study of the selection of machine tools for Green Manufacturing is given with the data provided by the industry partner. It shows the feasibility and effectiveness of the model and method presented.

Keywords: Green manufacturing, machining process planning, decision-making, framework model, Grey Relation Analysis, Analytic Hierarchy Process.

REPACKAGING: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS MANUFACTURERS , by TAYLOR RICH, SUDARATANA WONGWERAGIAT, BRAD GATES, JULIE ANN STUART

    The environmentally conscious design and manufacturing hierarchy is an important component of sustainable development. One of the tenants of this hierarchy promotes waste minimization prior to recycling. For such products as electrical and electronic hardware, and for products, which contain hazardous materials, waste minimization is an important means of reducing the volume of life cycle waste and reducing the exposure of hazardous substances to the environment. Numerous integrated repair and recycling centers exist which seek to exploit opportunities to reuse products before recycling them. Nonetheless, in situations where products are of low value, little support exists in helping such integrated facilities to recover salvageable products from damaged products for repackaging or recycling. In this paper, we present a case study in which we apply a new decision-making tool to manage inventory, which may be either repackaged or recycled. With a collaborator who repackages fluorescent lamps salvaged from damaged packaging, we demonstrate the tool’s ability to significantly reduce waste and simultaneously reduce the consumption and exposure of mercury to the environment.