The Impact of the Minimum Ductility Requirement in Automotive Castings on the Carbon Dioxide Footprint throughout the Useful Life of an Electric Car

There is a trend in the automotive producers to require that foundries use more secondary aluminum alloy ingots to reduce the CO2 footprint of car production. The merits of this trend have been investigated in this study. Results have shown that requiring the use of more secondary ingots while simultaneously reducing the elongation requirement of aluminum alloy die castings is counterproductive, i.e., increases the CO2 footprint of the car over its useful life by not taking advantage of the weight reduction possible. It is recommended that (i) foundries improve their melt handling capabilities to reduce and minimize the entrainment damage made to the melt in the melting and casting process chain, and (ii) automobile producers reduce the weight of die castings by increasing requirements on elongation, to secure a reduced CO2-footprint in the designs, materials usage and life-cycle of cars.

Automated summary

There is a trend for automotive producers to require increased usage of secondary aluminum alloy ingots in order to reduce car production's CO2 footprint. This study investigates the merits of this trend and finds that simultaneously reducing elongation requirements for aluminum alloy die castings while increasing the use of secondary ingots is counterproductive, as it fails to take advantage of weight reduction possibilities and actually increases the car's CO2 footprint over its useful life. The study recommends that foundries improve their melt handling capabilities to minimize damage to the melt in the melting and casting process chain, and that automobile producers reduce weight by increasing elongation requirements to achieve a reduced CO2 footprint in car designs, material usage, and life-cycle.