The industrial sector is responsible for significant amounts of CO ₂ emissions. Although research activities have already given their attention to major industries such as steel, small sectors such as metal casting have been overlooked. Therefore, there are evident knowledge gaps regarding the environmental impact of the foundry industry and the possibilities of decarbonizing the sector. Herein, this study focuses on the CO ₂ emissions associated with cast iron production and introduces an interdisciplinary framework in order to study the environmental impact, technical performance and production costs. The theoretical and experimental analyses illustrate the interconnections between the environmental, technical and economic aspects of cast iron production. The results emphasize the role of the smelting process and renewable energies in decreasing the carbon footprint. In terms of the input materials, the outcomes demonstrate that increasing the steel scrap content achieves considerable reductions in the CO ₂ emissions. An alloy composition with a steel scrap content of 25% leads to a minimum carbon footprint of 650 kg CO ₂ eq./ton. However, increasing the steel scrap content further results in higher carbon footprints due to the additional materials required to maintain the alloy composition. Moreover, a higher strength and lower ductility of the alloy were recorded due to higher amounts of carbide stabilizing elements. The study highlights the importance of adopting a holistic approach in order to define the optimal material combinations. Hence, the presented interdisciplinary approach can be applied by the foundries in order to achieving the technical, economic and ecological goals of the sector.

Central airway obstruction is a life-threatening disorder causing a high physical and psychological burden to patients. Standard-of-care airway stents are silicone tubes, which provide immediate relief but are prone to migration. Thus, they require additional surgeries to be removed, which may cause tissue damage. Customized bioresorbable airway stents produced by 3D printing would be highly needed in the management of this disorder. However, biocompatible and biodegradable materials for 3D printing of elastic medical implants are still lacking. Here, we report dual-polymer photoinks for digital light 3D printing of customized and bioresorbable airway stents. These stents exhibit tunable elastomeric properties with suitable biodegradability. In vivo study in healthy rabbits confirmed biocompatibility and showed that the stents stayed in place for 7 weeks after which they became radiographically invisible. This work opens promising perspectives for the rapid manufacturing of the customized medical devices for which high precision, elasticity, and degradability are sought.