Session: 02-06-01: Product and Sustainable Design

Paper Number: 112528

112528 - A CO2 Emissions Life Cycle Assessment of Additive and Conventional Manufacturing Based Lightweight Design in the Automotive 

The sustainable design theme is becoming increasingly central on the road to decarbonization. The 2016 Paris agreement goal of limiting global warming by 2 degrees poses complex challenges for many sectors, especially power generation, industry, and transport. Europe, which is responsible for about 7.5% of human-produced CO2, therefore decided in 2022 to become a leader in the reduction of emissions related to transport by imposing the target of 0 CO2 emissions of new vehicles produced from 2035. Within this scenario, it becomes increasingly important to analyze the sources of emissions from different points of view and to develop sustainable design approaches for new products. In the aviation and aerospace sectors, the lightweighting approach is consolidated and fundamental in order to minimize the fuel consumption costs related to the use phase. Similarly, this strategy can make it possible to reduce emissions, both for air and land transport, especially if we consider the vehicle in the context of electrification and green transition.

This paper aims to define an approach for the quantitative estimation of c02 emissions, which is applied to the lightweight design of automotive components. The approach is based on a life cycle analysis, which includes aspects ranging from product design and production to the use phase and possible upgrading and recycling. Lightweight design is implemented using two methods, which employ the use of either conventional or unconventional technologies, which are respectively the design for CNC machining and the design for additive manufacturing. These methods have been selected because they can be implemented in high-end sectors, as they can be both characterized by high customization and flexibility, which allow the implementation of lightweight designs for small batch sizes.

An automotive component is used as a case study, performing the product-process design based on computer-aided technologies (CAX) for both the design for manufacturing approaches. Lightweight design is based on the use of topological optimization, finalizing the design with the introduction of the appropriate process constraints, and the preparation of the related manufacturing process. The methodology to predict co2 is then applied to the case study, introducing and evaluating all the drivers relating to the phases of the product life cycle, and comparing the two methodologies for lightweight design.

The analysis, coherently with existing literature, confirms that additive manufacturing proves to be a more energy-intensive process than traditional processes. The impact of materials management is also more critical. However, the results obtained from design for additive manufacturing make it possible to achieve lightweighting in an evidently more effective way. This opens up an important discussion relating to the use phase of the product. From a life cycle perspective, the use phase of the vehicle has a greater impact in terms of CO2 emitted than that of production. The lifecycle analysis in fact demonstrates that the obtainable mass reduction would allow reductions in emissions for sectors such as the automotive, or even more for aviation and aerospace which represent much more important in the global production carbon footprint.

Presenting Author: Enrico Dalpadulo Università  Degli Studi Di Modena E Reggio Emilia

Presenting Author Biography: -

Authors:

Enrico Dalpadulo Università  Degli Studi Di Modena E Reggio Emilia
Fabio Pini Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Francesco Leali Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia