Integrated Costs and Environmental Impacts Optimization for Production of a Multi-Material Component

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Choosing environmentally benign strategy in product manufacturing is a relevant need that has been influencing all the industrial sectors aiming at reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This necessity often collides with the production costs. A different design strategy based on a multi-material approach can result in an economic efficiency playing, at the same time, a fundamental role in reducing the environmental footprint. Taking into account this scenario, an optimisation study was proposed focusing on the minimisation of both costs and environmental impacts of a car's lead anti-intrusion side door inside beam (SDIB) manufactured using a multi-material approach. The materials takeable into account in the executed design strategy were a carbon steel, an aluminium alloy, and a carbon fibre reinforced polymer. The objective of the work was to find a balance between cost efficiency and environmental sustainability throughout the entire product life cycle. Specifically, the input variables in the optimisation analysis were energy consumption, CO2 emissions, resource use and direct production costs. The model was developed taking these multiple factors into account and making possible the minimisation of costs and environmental impact, simultaneously respecting, at the same time, the required product performance.