Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T01:07:56.871Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT OF COMPOSITES IN AERO-ENGINE COMPONENTS

Part of: Socio-technical Issues in Design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2020

P. L. Y. Léonard  and
J. W. Nylander
P. L. Y. Léonard*
Affiliation:
GKN Aerospace, Sweden
J. W. Nylander
Affiliation:
GKN Aerospace, Sweden
*
*[email protected]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Environmental issues such as climate change are leading to sustainability challenges for the aerospace industry. New materials such as composites allow significant weight reduction, which leads to a lower fuel consumption. However, composites involve complex processes and there is a lack of knowledge on their social and environmental consequences. Through two cases based on real aero-engines components, this paper shows that the weight savings provided by composites reduce significantly the CO2 emissions during flight which compensates the environmental drawbacks from production and recycling.

Keywords

sustainabilitylife cycle assessment (LCA)lightweight designcompositeaerospace
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society: DESIGN Conference , Volume 1 , May 2020 , pp. 1989 - 1998
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

References

Åström, B.T. (2002), Manufacturing of Composite Polymers, Nelson Thornes Ltd.Google Scholar
Bains, M. and Carruthers, J. (2013), Composite materials: a resource efficiency action plan, Composites UK.Google Scholar
Boustead, I. (2005), Eco-profiles of the European Plastics Industry, PlasticsEurope.Google Scholar
Chawla, K.K. (2012), Composite Materials. Science and Engineering, Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-74365-3Google Scholar
Chen, M.C.-W. (2014), Commercial Viability Analysis of Lignin Based Carbon Fibre, Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University.Google Scholar
Chua, M.H. et al. (2015), Understanding aerospace composite components’ supply chain carbon emissions.Google Scholar
Correia, J.R. (2015), “Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites”, In: Gonçalves, C. and Margarido, F. (Eds.), Materials for Construction and Civil Engineering, Springer, pp. 501–556. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08236-3_11Google Scholar
Das, S. (2011), “Life cycle assessment of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites”, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 268–282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0264-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Das, S. et al. (2016), “Vehicle lightweighting energy use impacts on U.S. light-duty vehicle fleet”, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Vol. 8, pp. 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2016.04.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duflou, J.R. et al. (2009), “Environmental impact analysis of composite use in car manufacturing”, CIRP Annals, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 9–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2009.03.077CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Commission (2011), Flightpath 2050 Europe's vision of aviation: maintaining global leadership and serving society's needs.Google Scholar
European Environment Agency (2016), EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook 2016, pp. 20–22.Google Scholar
GKN Aerospace Sweden (2019), Information from internal sources.Google Scholar
Gould, R., Missimer, M. and Mesquita, P.L. (2017), “Using social sustainability principles to analyse activities of the extraction lifecycle phase: Learnings from designing support for concept selection”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 140, pp. 267–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granta Design (2018), CES Selector 2018 (APA Edition) Version 18.3.1, G.D. Limited.Google Scholar
Huang, R. et al. (2016), “Energy and emissions saving potential of additive manufacturing:the case of lightweight aircraft components”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 135, pp. 1559–1570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.109CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kara, S. and Manmek, S. (2009), Composites: Calculating their embodied energy.Google Scholar
Lufthansa Group(2012), Fuel efficiency at the Lufthansa Group - Cutting costs and protecting the environment.Google Scholar
Marsh, G. (2015), “Aero engines loose weight thanks to composites”, Reinforced Plastics, Vol. 56 No. 6, pp. 32–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-3617(12)70146-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellema, G. (2002), Safety issues with advanced composite materials [online]. Available at: https://www.aviationpros.com/home/article/10387483/safety-issues-with-advanced-composite-materials (accessed 18.04.2019)Google Scholar
Mesquita, P.L. et al. (2016), “An introductory approach to concretize social sustainability for sustainable manufacturing”, Tools and Methods of Competitive Engineering.Google Scholar
Oliveux, G., Dandy, L.O. and Leeke, G.A. (2015), “Current status of recycling of fibre reinforced polymers: Review of technologies, reuse and resulting properties”, Progress in Materials Science, Vol. 72, pp. 61–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2015.01.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PolyOne (2019), Performance Advantages & Applications of Continuous Fiber Thermoplastic Composite [webinar], Composite World.Google Scholar
Rosato, D.V., Rosato, M.G. and Schott, N.R. (2010), Plastics Technology Handbook, Fourth Edition.Google Scholar
Rybicka, J. et al. (2015), “Capturing composites manufacturing waste flows through process mapping”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 91, pp. 251–261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.033CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scelsi, L. et al. (2011), “Potential emissions savings of lightweight composite aircraft components evaluated through life cycle assessment”, Express Polymer Letters, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 209–217. http://doi.org/10.3144/expresspolymlett.2011.20CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanmugam, K. et al. (2019), “Advanced High-Strength Steel and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Body in White for Passenger Cars: Environmental Performance and Sustainable Return on Investment Under Different Propulsion Modes”, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b05588Google Scholar
Song, Y.S., Youn, J.R. and Gutowski, T.G. (2009), “Life cycle energy analysis of fiber reinforced composites”, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, Vol. 40 No. 8, pp. 1257–1265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2009.05.020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soutis, C. (2005), “Fibre reinforced composites in aircraft construction”, Progress in Aerospace Sciences, Vol. 41 No. 2, pp. 143–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paerosci.2005.02.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wesdock, J.C. and Arnold, I.M.F. (2014), “Occupational and Environmental Health in the Aluminum Industry, Key Points for Health Practitioners”, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 56, pp. S5–S11. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000000071CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, Y. et al. (2012), “Recycling of composite materials”, Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification, Vol. 51, pp. 53–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2011.09.007Google Scholar