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Essential Readings in Magnesium Technology pp 175–180Cite as

Life Cycle Environmental Impact of Magnesium Automotive Components

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Abstract

The development of magnesium applications for automotive industries is receiving significant attention. One aspect of this attention is the assessment and reduction of the cradle-to-grave environmental impact of magnesium components.

The study investigates detailed impact of magnesium converter housing for automotives starting from the production of magnesium ingots to the manufacture and assembly, use and recycling.

Extensive sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine the impact of key process parameters that can improve the environmental performance of the component. The parameters include: cover gases other than SF6, improvements to product yield and use of secondary magnesium. From this analysis, a number of environmental performance scenarios are proposed and used to compare the impact of similar functional components made using of magnesium produced in China, aluminium and iron.

The investigations clearly show a significant reduction in the greenhouse gas impact may be achieved from the lighter weight of the magnesium components. Also, process improvements to reduce the impact improve the break-even distances in the use of automobiles at which magnesium becomes comparable with other competing metals.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Manufacturing & Infrastructure Technology, PO Box 56. 9, Highett, Vic., 3190, Australia

    Paul Koltun, A. Tharumarajah & S. Ramakrishnan

Authors
  1. Paul Koltun
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  2. A. Tharumarajah
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  3. S. Ramakrishnan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Koltun .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science Division, U.S. Army Research Office (ARO), USA

    Suveen N. Mathaudhu B.S.E., Ph.D. (Program Manager for Synthesis and Processing of Materials, Adjunct Assistant Professor) (Program Manager for Synthesis and Processing of Materials, Adjunct Assistant Professor)

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, USA

    Suveen N. Mathaudhu B.S.E., Ph.D. (Program Manager for Synthesis and Processing of Materials, Adjunct Assistant Professor) (Program Manager for Synthesis and Processing of Materials, Adjunct Assistant Professor)

  3. The Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, Ohio, USA

    Alan A. Luo (Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Integrated Systems Engineering, Vice Chair of TMS Light Metals Division and SAE Materials Division and the Chair of SAE Non-Ferrous Metals Committee) (Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Integrated Systems Engineering, Vice Chair of TMS Light Metals Division and SAE Materials Division and the Chair of SAE Non-Ferrous Metals Committee)

  4. IND LLC, Canada

    Neale R. Neelameggham (Guru) (Guru)

  5. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Washington, USA

    Eric A. Nyberg B.S., M.S. (Chief Engineer) (Chief Engineer)

  6. New Materials & Energy Unit at the research and technology center, European Space Agency (ESA-ESTEC), Netherlands

    Wim H. Sillekens Ph.D. (project manager) (project manager)

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© 2016 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

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Koltun, P., Tharumarajah, A., Ramakrishnan, S. (2016). Life Cycle Environmental Impact of Magnesium Automotive Components. In: Mathaudhu, S.N., Luo, A.A., Neelameggham, N.R., Nyberg, E.A., Sillekens, W.H. (eds) Essential Readings in Magnesium Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48099-2_29

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