At present, some scholars divide resource costs into energy, material and labor costs. According to the research boundary of sand casting industry, the casting resource cost in each production department of casting is classified into energy cost, material cost, labor cost and residual cost. The energy cost is mainly electricity, as well as coke and other energy. Material cost includes the cost of main materials and auxiliary materials. The main materials are pig iron, scrap steel, reheating iron, etc. The range of auxiliary materials is very wide, including auxiliary materials for modeling (resin coating, etc.) and auxiliary materials for cleaning (water, etc.) and tools. The labor cost is calculated according to the working hours of workers. The residual cost includes the loss expense of waste products, its depreciation expense, self-made model and sand box, etc.
Where: 𝑅 𝐶 total represents the total resource cost; 𝑅 𝐶 energy means energy cost; 𝑅 𝐶 material indicates the material cost; 𝑅 𝐶 labor means labor cost; 𝑅 𝐶 rest means residual cost.
Similarly to the calculation of carbon emission and production time, resource cost can also be divided into energy cost, material cost, labor cost and residual cost associated with process design characteristics, as shown in the formula.
Where: 𝑅 𝐶 X represents the type of resource cost; 𝑅 𝐶 (𝑑 𝐶 𝐹) represents the cost associated with the characteristics of the casting material; 𝑅 𝐶 (dHF) represents the cost associated with the casting geometric characteristics of 𝑋; 𝑅𝐶 (𝑑Z𝐹) represents the cost associated with the pouring characteristics of 𝑋.