Abstract
Lightweight materials have become an important strategy in the automotive industry to enable vehicle weight reduction and reduce fuel consumption. However, when developing specific strategies, the overall benefits of any material should be analyzed throughout its life cycle to comprehend energy/environmental differences that arise during its processing and its final use. A key example is aluminum which despite having great potential in the use phase requires large amounts of energy to process. This paper provides a comparison between aluminum and steel utilizing a life-cycle approach. This approach reveals the importance of incorporating a recycling strategy to leverage aluminum’s low-weight attributes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Sutherland, J., Gunter, K.: A global perspective on the environmental challenges facing the automotive industry: state-of-the-art and directions for the future. Int. J. Vehicle Design 35(1), 86–110 (2004)
McAuley, J.W.: Global Sustainability and Key Needs, in Future Automotive Design. Environ. Sci. Technol. 37, 5414–5416 (2003)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2009 (2011), http://www.epa.gov
Geyer, R.: Life cycle greenhouse gas emission assessments of automotive materials the example of mild steel, advanced high strength steel and aluminum in body in white applications methodology (2007), www.worldautosteel.org
Bertram, M., Buxmann, K., Furrer, P.: Analysis of greenhouse gas emissions related to aluminium transport applications. Int. J. LCA 14(1), 62–69 (2009)
Schmidheiny: Changing course: a global business perspective on development and the environment. MIT Press, Cambridge (1992)
Shaw, J., Coates, G.: Automotive Steel Performance Advantages for Mass Reduction and Climate Change (2008), www.autosteel.org
Geyer, R.: CO 2 equivalent with Advanced High-Strength Steels (2007), www.autosteel.org
Koffler, C., Rohde-Brandenburger, K.: On the calculation of fuel savings through lightweight design in automotive life cycle assessments. Int. J. LCA 15(1), 128–135 (2009)
International Aluminium Institute: Improving Sustainability in the Transport Sector through Weight Reduction and the Application of Aluminium, www.world-aluminium.org
Froes, F.H.F., Kiese, H., Bergoint, D.J.: Titanium in the family automobile: the cost challenge. JOM, 40–44 (2004)
Sujit, D.: The Life-Cycle Impacts of Aluminum Body-in-White Automotive Material. JOM 261, 20–24 (2000)
Kim, H.J., McMillan, C., Winebrake, J.J., Keoleian, G.A., Skerlos, S.J.: Evaluating Life Cycle Cost, Emissions and Materials Use for an Aluminum Intensive Vehicle: Preliminary Analysis. In: Proceedings of NSF Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, Knoxville, Tennessee (2008)
Helms, H., Lambrecht, U.: The Potential Contribution of Light-Weighting to Reduce Transport Energy Consumption. Int. J. LCA, 1–7 (2006)
http://aluminium.matter.org.uk/content/html/eng/default.asp?catid=7&pageid=230565674
Puri, P., Compston, P., Pantano, V.: Life cycle assessment of Australian automotive door skins. Int. J. LCA 14, 420–428 (2009)
Omar, M.A.: The automotive body manufacturing systems and processes. Wiley, New York (2011)
Gabi Education Handbook, http://www.pe-international.com
Ingarao, G., Di Lorenzo, R., Micari, F.: Sustainability issues in sheet metal forming processes: an overview. J. Clean Prod. 19(14), 337–347 (2011)
Ingarao, G., Gagliardi, F., Anghinelli, O., Di Lorenzo, R.: A Sensitivity Analysis on Environmental Sustainability in Sheet Metal Forming. In: Proceeding of ICTP International Conference on Technology of Plasticity, Aachen, Germany (2011)
Novotny, S., Geyer, M.: Process design for hydroforming of lightweight metal sheets at elevated temperatures. In: J. Mater. Process. Tech., pp. 594–599 (2003)
Fadi, K., Marwan, K.K.: Integrated approach to the superplastic forming of lightweight alloys: towards sustainable manufacturing. Int. J. Sust. Manuf. (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Marretta, L., Di Lorenzo, R., Micari, F., Arinez, J., Dornfeld, D. (2012). Material Substitution for Automotive Applications: A Comparative Life Cycle Analysis. In: Dornfeld, D., Linke, B. (eds) Leveraging Technology for a Sustainable World. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29069-5_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29069-5_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-29068-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-29069-5
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)