sustainability assessment and life cycle analysis of welding processes: focus on gmaw and smaw

Sustainable development is defined as a solution to meet the needs of the current generation without jeopardizing the needs of future generations, considering the critical role it plays in maintaining all ecosystems. in this regard, it is essential to pay attention to three environmental, economic, and social aspects simultaneously. in this research, the sustainability of gas metal arc welding and shielded metal arc welding was studied according to the wide application of welding as a critical production method in the industry. the results showed that gas metal arc welding has less waste of energy, raw materials, and electrodes due to continuous electrodes and the possibility of automatic welding. on the other hand, shielded metal arc welding due to low thermal efficiency, electrode waste, the release of toxic gases due to the burning of the electrode coating, and also the need to change the electrode, has a lower sustainability performance.