Presence of aluminium extrusions in automotive industry and its impact on sustainability

Abstract

Aluminium, also called the metal of the future, is used more and more in different kind of industries, including the automotive industry. It has gained attention from the moment that the mankind has realized its characteristics, and therefore the potential of usage in all possible segments of industry, up to the level of the products of everyday life. This Master Thesis aims to understand what could be the future variations of the combination of this element with others ones, and how these“progressive materials”, where aluminium powder extruded products belong, can influence its application in real life, in relation to the topic of the sustainability.Sustainability is on the highest agenda of both car manufacturers and final consumers as well, not only from the aspect of product durability and possible life time presencein the circular economy, but also from the point of view of cost feasibility.The first part of this document approaches the topic form an academic perspective,starting by the presentation of challenges and trends of the industry within the aluminium world of extrusions. Consequently, brief presentation of the Hydro group,supporting the explanation about the basic parameters of the aluminium element,classic production process, application of the current portfolio of products in the segment of the automotive industry, is provided.The second part is a natural continuation to the first, explaining the theoretical information about the progressive aluminium materials with a comparison against regular casted alloys materials.The third part contains methodology applied by the author in the process of research on the possible application of “progressive materials”, by gathering data from the field thru a survey executed in the company where the author is presently working in this area of research and development.The survey is presented in a detailed way, with the explanation of the different fields of the question that are presented to the business partners from the automotive sector, that were aimed to be questioned based on their multiple years of experience in the segment, as well as their journey of implementation of new products,technologies and also new raw materials. The survey was conducted having in scope European partners only, although these are present with their activities also in other regions of the world. Following, in the same part, an analysis from the provided data is provided, with the investigation and study of different relationships between various areas of questions.An understanding for the relation of possible application in real life production and its feasibility, both cost wise and as a sustainable solution, is looked for.The outcome of this of this master thesis shows, that there is a connection between the sustainability and its cost, and the sustainability perspective prevails on the costsensitivity. The result confirms that the sustainability factor is more important from the perspective of the application of “progressive materials” which influences the application in the circular economy with its impact on the environment, rather than the financial aspect of an application of such solution, on the long run.