Study On Environmental Influence Of Car Floor Based On Life Cycle Assessment

In recent years, with the rising of vehicle production and ownership of our country,Energy consumption and harmful gas emissions of vehicle are increasing year by year. Underthe growing shortage of energy situation and worsening environmental pressure, the only wayof reducing energy consumption and environmental pollution is to develop energy-efficientand low-emission technology of vehicle. By reducing car quality itself is an effective way ofenergy saving performance. Thus, autobody lightweight technology becomes a key issue ofmodern vehicle development technologies.Due to the great contributions of lightweight autobody to energy saving andenvironmental protection, many countries in the world are tying their best to developlightweight and low emission vehicles. There are three ways to achieve the lightweight designof autobody: the first is applying the optimization design of the autobody structure; the secondis using a lot of lightweight materials; the third is introducing advanced manufacturingtechnology. However, until now, the potential of achieving autobody lightweight throughstructure optimization is very small due to more reasonable body structure. Nowadays, manyautomakers have focused their attention on the application of lightweight materials and studyof advanced manufacturing technologies. The most common lightweight materials arehigh-strength steels, aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, composites and so on. However, newlightweight materials result in serious resources shortage, energy shortage and environmentaldestruction in the processes of manufacturing, usage and recycling. Besides, automobileindustry has a higher energy and resource consumption and also does a big damage toenvironment. Under the multiple stresses of resource, energy and environment, the demand ofenergy conservation and emission reduction is more and more stringent. How to make acomprehensive understanding to the negative effects on the environment made throughout thelife cycle stages of manufacturing and recycling has become an important issue to achieve sustainable developments of human beings. To resolve this problem, this paper adopts a newenvironment management method—Life Cycle Assessment. This article conducts on life cycleassessment of car floor made up of different materials to realize the negative effects on theenvironment throughout its entire life cycle, meanwhile, this method can provide theoreticalfoundation and data support for the material selection of autobody in the future. Moreimportantly, it provides guidance to improve vehicle environmental friendliness.This article introduces the latest theory of life cycle assessment method at home andabroad in detail, pointing out the importance of life cycle assessment for automobile industry’sdevelopment, and applying the new theory on the life cycle assessment of car floor.First of all, environmental impact categories of car floor should be determined andanalyzed. For there is no uniform partitioning method for environmental impact categories atpresent, this paper adopts CML2001proposed by Leiden university environmental researchcenter and takes into account the actual situation of the floor. The following sixenvironmental impact categories are confirmed: Global Warming Potential, AcidificationPotential, Eutrophication Potential, Ozone Layer Depletion Potential, Photochemical Smogand Energy Depletion.Secondly, a set of life cycle assessment model which is suitable to the car floor is broughtforward in this paper, including goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory, life cycleimpact assessment and life cycle interpretation according to the technical framework of lifecycle assessment put forward by international standard organization. Based on the framework,a set of life cycle assessment model which is suitable to the car floor is brought forward, at thesame time, different materials such as Galvanized Steel, Aluminum Alloy and MagnesiumAlloy are used in the floor. Through consulting a large number of literatures and investigatingcar factories, the data of resource consumption, energy consumption and pollutant emissionsthroughout life cycle stages of manufacturing and recycling is collected and then data listtables of the floor with different materials are set up.Thirdly, a life cycle impact assessment is made on the floor. As current life cycle impactassessment methods have some limitations, this paper adopts TOPSIS impact assessmentmethod. The TOPSIS method can get the floor with a kind of material which has the leasteffect on environment, and also obtain the environmental influences which the two life cycle stages have. The presented study in this paper will provide some substantial advices orguidances to improve the environmentally friendly of vehicle in the near future.