A Materials Selection and Design Procedure for Selection of Automobile Vehicles that are Environmentally Friendly in Terms of Available Energy Resources

The present review focuses on determining the environmental burden throughout the service life of a certain automobile component. Design of such a component is associated with the selection of a candidate material that optimizes its structural properties while simultaneously minimizing its weight, the energy involved in its manufacture and the energy consumed during its service life. The analysis establishes a simple routine inspection method that allows engineering students to make an overall decision in terms of the choice among a range of available materials; the design choice has priority among pre-established requirements. Two groups of vehicles with middle to high price range are compared, with different engines: Diesel, gasoline and hybrid. One class consists of off-road vehicles, the other of comparable on-road sedans. Undergraduate students in their second and third year of the Industrial Technical Engineering program at the University of Oviedo have evaluated variations such as changes in the choice of the material, the car components and car models. Students worked in teams and were told to pay attention to "green engineering". Instructors involved have been able to confirm that significant learning was achieved.