Life Cycle Assessment of Aluminium and Carbon Fibre Composites - Recycling Options and Currently Used Environmental Assessment Methods in a Comparative Study

The master thesis deals with the topic of life cycle assessment (LCA) , with a focus on LCA of aluminium and carbon fibre composites. LCAs evaluate the whole product life cycle. Therefore, the analysis is conducted “from cradle to grave”. In a systematic literature review the main methodological differences and similarities between LCAs of aluminium and LCAs of carbon fibre composites are evaluated. Furthermore, the systematic literature review shows that the results of comparative LCAs of aluminium and carbon fibre composites in the existing literature can be very different. The last part of the master thesis is about conducting a comparative LCA of a vehicle component out of different material compositions. A vehicle component out of aluminium is compared with six different scenarios out of carbon fibre composites. These six scenarios consist of different material compositions and recycling strategies. The results of the LCA are analysed with different assessment methods. Regarding the results of the LCA, with certain exceptions the carbon fibre composite scenarios perform better than the vehicle component out of aluminium.