The components’ lightweighting has been pursued, especially in the transport industry, for greenhouse gas reduction. Topology optimization, being able to allocate the material within a provided design space, is a mathematical method that can support the design of lightweight components, preserving, at the same time, their mechanical performances. In this paper, a standard shape of a component, specifically an automotive bracket, was topology optimized by estimating the impacts of the new designs from an eco-friendly point of view. A subtractive, an additive and a casting manufacturing process were considered as possible manufacturing routes achieving an optimized geometry of the component for each of them. The topology optimizations were performed considering each processes’ peculiarities, introduced as constraints. Same strength for a given set of loads and boundary conditions was the target of each analysis. The component’s lightening can be considered environmentally friendly just after assessing the impacts associated with all the stages of the product’ life cycle. Indeed, each phase of the product’ life cycle can be affected, differently, by the performed topology optimization taking into account the peculiarities of the employed manufacturing process. The overall considerations on the most environmentally safe strategies can, therefore, change according to the specificities of the optimized shapes. The topology optimization showed its utmost potentiality, from a sustainable point of view, if applied to additive manufacturing techniques for the advantages arisen by the capability to manufacture complex shapes benefiting also of reduction time process owing to less material to be deposited.

为了减少温室气体排放，人们一直在追求部件的轻量化，特别是在运输行业。拓扑优化能够在提供的设计空间内分配材料，是一种数学方法，可以支持轻质部件的设计，同时保留其机械性能。在本文中，通过从生态友好的角度估计新设计的影响，对组件的标准形状（特别是汽车支架）进行了拓扑优化。减材、增材和铸造制造工艺被认为是可能的制造路线，以实现每种部件的优化几何形状。拓扑优化的执行考虑了每个过程的特殊性，并引入了约束。每个分析的目标是给定一组载荷和边界条件的相同强度。在评估了与产品生命周期所有阶段相关的影响后，该组件的轻量化就可以被认为是环保的。事实上，考虑到所采用的制造工艺的特殊性，所执行的拓扑优化可能会不同地影响产品生命周期的每个阶段。因此，对最环境安全策略的总体考虑可以根据优化形状的特殊性而变化。拓扑优化显示了其最大的潜力，从可持续的角度来看，