Abstract
Magneti Marelli has always been sensitive to the environmental sustainability in the new solutions or systems development, adopting, as principle, the “Green Engagement”, that is devoting more and more resources and energies to environmentally-friendly innovation. For this reason, in 2012 some automotive components have been selected to perform environmental evaluations using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology; the general objective is to reduce the whole environmental impacts of vehicles during each steps of the life cycle. In a lightweight perspective, a relevant component is the suspension arm. A comparison was done among a current solution (stamped sheet metal high resistance steel, welded and painted), and a few alternatives: an aluminum solution (forged and machined primary aluminum alloy) and a new generation composite material arm (hybrid aluminum and thermoplastic material reinforced with 60% of short glass fibers). The inventory data have been processed with the GaBi 6 software, and the results have been aggregated in the main Environmental Impact Categories as recognized by the International Organizations such as UNEP and SETAC (Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential,…). CRF supported Magneti Marelli in the application of the LCA methodology based on ISO 14040 series.
This paper deals with the LCA activity and the environmental impact results on different solutions of lightweighted suspension arm focusing the attention on the main environmental indicators, Global Warming Potential and Primary Energy Demand from renewable and non-renewable resources.
KEYWORDS – Lightweighting, Life Cycle Assessment, materials alternatives, environmental performances