Digital Lifecycle Research Articles

A novel digital lifecycle for Material‐Process‐Microstructure‐Performance relationships of thermoplastic olefins foams manufactured via supercritical fluid assisted foam injection molding

AbstractThis research significantly enhances the applicability of thermoplastic olefins (TPOs) in the automotive industry using supercritical N2 as a physical foaming agent, effectively addressing the limitations of traditional chemical agents. It merges experimental results with simulations to establish detailed material‐process‐microstructure‐performance (MP2) relationships, targeting 5–20% weight reductions. This innovative approach labeled digital lifecycle (DLC) helps accurately predict tensile, flexural, and impact properties based on the foam microstructure, along with experimentally demonstrating improved paintability. The study combines process simulations with finite element models to develop a comprehensive digital model for accurately predicting mechanical properties. Our findings demonstrate a strong correlation between simulated and experimental data, with about a 5% error across various weight reduction targets, marking significant improvements over existing analytical models. This research highlights the efficacy of physical foaming agents in TPO enhancement and emphasizes the importance of integrating experimental and simulation methods to capture the underlying foaming mechanism to establish material‐process‐microstructure‐performance (MP2) relationships.Highlights Establishes a material‐process‐microstructure‐performance (MP2) for TPO foams Sustainably produces TPO foams using supercritical (ScF) N2 with 20% lightweighting Shows enhanced paintability for TPO foam improved surface aesthetics Digital lifecycle (DLC) that predicts both foam microstructure and properties DLC maps process effects & microstructure onto FEA mesh for precise prediction

Connecting Producers and Recyclers: A Digital Product Passport Concept and Implementation Suitable for End-of-Life Management

To facilitate the shift from a Linear to a Circular Economy, it is essential to alter the manner in which we manufacture, use, and dispose of products. Interoperable information exchange among various stakeholders throughout the product lifecycle is crucial if we wish to encourage reuse, repair, remanufacturing, refurbishing, or recycling. The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a concept for capturing product information. This paper presents an end-to-end process for sharing product-related information along the product lifecycle explicitly designed to cater to the needs of all stakeholders, including end-of-life actors. This process is based on a DPP concept and implementation called the Digital Lifecycle Passport and a multi-stakeholder platform. Technically, it relies on the Asset Administration Shell (AAS), which enables information to be shared in a structured way. We demonstrate how this process can improve waste sorting and how it can be used for life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA results are captured in an interoperable way based on DIN SPEC 91474, which will facilitate automatic documentation for regulatory purposes in the future. Our approach is a forerunner in the sense that it uses the DPP and the AAS for end-of-life management.

Towards a Digital Lifecycle Passport for the Circular Economy

The Circular Economy approach aims to close the loop of materials and to reduce waste. However, relevant product data for the optimization and management of circular approaches are often missing. Stakeholders typically lack key information: Recyclers do not know which materials/compounds to expect, producers do not know enough about the recyclability of their products, and customers do not have enough information about the environmental impact of their purchases. As a solution, this paper proposes a Digital Lifecycle Passport (DLCP) that can be written and read by various stakeholders along the full product lifecycle. Based on Plattform Industrie 4.0’s Asset Administration Shell, the DLCP is readable for both humans and machines. A cloud-based app (SaaS) enables all stakeholders to create and manage DLCPs. As a use case, it is demonstrated how the DLCP can improve the sorting process of electronic waste.

Towards a Sustainable Infrastructure for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Digital Scholarship

The digital lifecycle encompasses definitive processes for data curation and management, long-term preservation, and dissemination, all of which are key building blocks in the development of a digital library. Maintaining a complete digital lifecycle workflow is vital to the preservation of digital cultural heritage and digital scholarship. This paper considers digital lifecycle programs for digital libraries, noting similarities between the digital and print lifecycles and referring to the example of the Digital Dunhuang project. Only through a systematic and sustainable digital lifecycle program can platforms for cross-disciplinary research and repositories for large aggregations of digital content be built. Moreover, advancing digital lifecycle development will ensure that knowledge and scholarship created in the digital age will have the same chances for survival that print-and-paper scholarship has had for centuries. It will also ensure that digital library users will have effective access to aggregated content across different domains and platforms.

Digital lifecycle records as an instrument for inter-company knowledge management

Digital lifecycle records provide a high potential for securing and passing of plant-specific information. Today, however, their use is limited to individual life phases and in-house applications. Further use cases such as the use in the context of an inter-company knowledge management are not yet implemented. The potentials and challenges of digital lifecycle records in networked value creation structures are examined and evaluated in this article using the example of inter-company knowledge management. As a result, recommendations for action and a specification of further research needs are presented.

Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model

Lifecycle management of digital materials can help conceptualisation of the stages required to successfully curate digital material. A number of discipline specific models, and more generally applicable standards, have been developed which can be used as a basis when planning and implementing organisational management of digital material. The generic Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model identifies curation actions applicable either across the whole digital lifecycle or sequentially throughout it. Domain specific models, with greater granularity, will be developed to ensure readily accessible advice.

LIFE: Costing the Digital Preservation Lifecycle

Having confidence in the permanence of a digital resource requires a deep understanding of the preservation activities that will need to be performed throughout its lifetime, and an ability to plan and resource for those activities. The LIFE (Lifecycle Information for E-Literature) Project1 has advanced understanding of the short and long-term costs in this complex area, facilitating better planning, comparison and evaluation of digital lifecycles. The LIFE Project created a digital lifecycle model based on previous work undertaken on the lifecycles of paper-based materials. It applied the model to real-life collections, modelling their lifecycles and studying their constituent processes. The results were then used to estimate the costs of each element of the digital lifecycle. Organisations can now apply this process, enabling evaluation and refinement of their existing lifecycles and facilitating more effective planning for the preservation of newly acquired content. Phase 2 of the LIFE Project began in February 2007. It is evaluating and refining the models and methodology developed in the first phase of the project and developing lifecycle costings for a range of further case studies.

How much does it cost? The LIFE Project - Costing Models for Digital Curation and Preservation

Digital preservation is concerned with the long-term safekeeping of electronic resources. How can we be confident of their permanence, if we do not know the cost of preservation? The LIFE (Lifecycle Information for E-Literature) Project has made a major step forward in understanding the long-term costs in this complex area. The LIFE Project has developed a methodology to model the digital lifecycle and to calculate the costs of preserving digital information for the next 5, 10 or 100 years. National and higher education (HE) libraries can now apply this process and plan effectively for the preservation of their digital collections. Based on previous work undertaken on the lifecycles of paper-based materials, the LIFE Project created a lifecycle model and applied it to real-life digital collections across a diverse subject range. Three case studies examined the everyday operations, processes and costs involved in their respective activities. The results were then used to calculate the direct costs for each element of the digital lifecycle. The Project has made major advances in costing preservation activities, as well as making detailed costs of real digital preservation activities available. The second phase of LIFE (LIFE2), which recently started, aims to refine the lifecycle methodology and to add a greater range and breadth to the project with additional exemplar case studies.

Management of the Life Cycle of Digital Library Materials

This paper does not deal in any detail with digital preservation, rather it examines the development of digital content and digital libraries in the broader content of digital developments and library developments. Implicit throughout this is the need to create or acquire digital content for long-term access, which means that preservation needs must be foregrounded at all stages of the digital lifecycle.