Integrating Sustainability into Material Design and Selection through Eco-Design: A Case Study on Aluminum Alloy Plates

Traditional material design focuses primarily on performance, properties, structure, and synthesis. Growing environmental awareness necessitates the integration of sustainability considerations into material design and selection. This paper introduced an approach that embeds the eco-design method within material comparison to balance performance requirements and environmental sustainability. Five types of aluminum alloys were examined to demonstrate and validate the proposed method. The alloys are commonly used in shipbuilding and have varying contents of the rare earth element Erbium. The alloys were assessed through a performance-requirement matrix, life cycle assessment, and exergy calculation to evaluate their performance, environmental impact, and resource consumption. A binary integrated decision model was created to compare the five alloys based on either their performance and environmental impact or their performance and resource consumption. Additionally, ternary integrated decision models were formulated to yield a comprehensive analysis of the five alloys, considering all three aforementioned factors. A matrix model was established to allow for comparative assessment no matter how many indicators are involved. Furthermore, a model based on the enumeration method was presented to mitigate the bias introduced by weighting factors. This methodological approach aids in selecting the most suitable alloys for diverse scenarios, thereby enhancing the sustainability of material design.