  Stacked analyses of galaxy clusters at low-to-intermediate redshift show
signatures attributable to dust, but the origin of this dust is uncertain. We
test the hypothesis that the bulk of cluster dust derives from galaxy ejecta.
To do so, we employ dust abundances obtained from detailed chemical evolution
models of galaxies. We integrate the dust abundances over cluster luminosity
functions (one-slope and two-slope Schechter functions). We consider both a
hierarchical scenario of galaxy formation and an independent evolution of the
three main galactic morphologies: elliptical/S0, spiral and irregular. We
separate the dust residing within galaxies from the dust ejected in the
intracluster medium. To the latter, we apply thermal sputtering. The model
results are compared to low-to-intermediate redshift observations of dust
masses. We find that in any of the considered scenarios, elliptical/S0 galaxies
contribute negligibly to the present-time intracluster dust, despite producing
the majority of gas-phase metals in galaxy clusters. Spiral galaxies, instead,
provide both the bulk of the spatially-unresolved dust and of the dust ejected
into the intracluster medium. The total dust-to-gas mass ratio in galaxy
clusters amounts to $10^{-4}$, while the intracluster medium dust-to-gas mass
ratio amounts to $10^{-6}$ at most. These dust abundances are consistent with
the estimates of cluster observations at $0.2 < z <1$. We propose that galactic
sources, spiral galaxies in particular, are the major contributors to the
cluster dust budget.
