Lightweight materials for the automotive: environmentalimpact analysis of the use of composites

Abstract

The automotive is a sector where energy consumption during theuse phase prevails over the production and the end-of-life phase.Therefore, a lot of research and innovations have aimed atreplacing classical steel parts by lighter materials like light alloysand polymer composites. While composites are very attractivefor the use phase of cars, their introduction suffers from the limitedend-of-life options for composite structures. Due to the restrictionsimposed by the European ELV directive, the use of non-recyclablecomposite components in car manufacturing is not obvious.
An extensive life cycle analysis for a reference car design wasconducted to study the effects of replacement of conventionalsteel structures by lightweight carbon fibre composite alternatives.The study also takes second order effects in the design of the carinto account, such as the required motor power. The obtainedresults show the trend towards more intensive use of carbonfibrecomposites in car design desires some nuancing, and theopportunities and threats are identified.