Process Modeling in the Life Cycle Design - Environmental Modeling of Joining Technologies within the Automotive Industry -

For integrating Life Cycle Assessment into the design process it is more and more necessary to generate models of single life cycle steps respectively manufacturing processes. For that reason it is indispensable to develop parametric processes. With such disposed processes the aim could only be to provide a tool where parametric environmental process models are available for a designer. With such a tool and the included models a designer will have the possibility to make an estimation of the probable energy consumption and needed additive materials for the applied manufacturing technology. Likewise if he has from the technical point of view the opportunity, he can shift the applied joining technology in the design phase by changing for instance the design. With that in consideration he is able to avoid higher energy consumption and environmental burdens in the design phase and not just in the serial production, where the shift to another manufacturing technology or design of the product is much more cost intensive.

The paper shows environmental profiles of several mechanical and thermal joining technologies as Laser welding, inert gas shielded welding, clinching, etc. Also an aim of this paper shall be to call the attention that additive materials as welding wire (e.g. copper) and air pressure are not neglectible. Those input flows are depending on the welding time, the welding current etc. At the end will be a scenario as sensitivity analysis, where the achieved “new” knowledge is compared where only the energy consumption is taken into consideration.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool for the development and design process to obtain an optimized ecological (low environmental impact during the whole life cycle) and economic product.