Multiple criteria decision making with life cycle assessment for material selection of composites

eXPRESS Polymer Letters

卷:5

关键词: Polymer composites;    Material selection;    Multi-criteria decision making;    Life cycle assessment;    Sensitivity analysis;   

DOI  :  10.3144/expresspolymlett.2011.104

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

With the advancement of interdisciplinary approaches in today’s modern engineering, current efforts in optimal design of composites include seeking material selection protocols that can (1) simultaneously consider a series of mechanical/electrical/chemical cost criteria over a set of alternative material options, and (2) closely take into account environmental aspects of final products including recycling and end-of-life disposal options. In this paper, in addition to a review of some recent experimental and methodological advances in the above areas, a new application of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) is presented to deal with decision conflicts often seen among design criteria in composite material selection with the help of life cycle assessment (LCA). To show the application, an illustrative case study on a plastic gear material selection is conducted where the cost, mechanical and thermal properties along with environmental impact criteria are to be satisfied simultaneously. A pure plastic gear is compared to a Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/aluminum-powder composite alternative. Results suggest that simple MCDM models, including a signal-to-noise measure adapted to MCDM in the same case study, can be used to explore both trade-offs and design break-even points in large decision spaces as the decision maker’s perspective over environmental, material performance and cost attributes change during the design process. More advanced topics including the account of material data uncertainties are addressed.

【 授权许可】

Unknown