Sabic a global specialist in the chemical industry released at JEC World 2018 the results of its lifecycle assessment of passenger car side doors using hybrid material solutions including laminates made with its continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite CFRTC the UDMAX GPP 45-70 tape   The material system aims to help improve compliance with stringent energy and emissions regulations The externally certified cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment LCA found that doors made with the glass fiber polypropylene-reinforced composites outperformed metal car doors in two key environmental categories global warming potential and cumulative energy demand In addition to weighing significantly less than steel aluminum and magnesium the CFRTC parts deliver exceptional strength corrosion resistance and the ability to be produced in high volumes using injection molding       Many countries including China Japan and several across the European Union have announced they will tighten vehicle emissions regulations in the near future said Scott Fallon global automotive leader Sabic These impending changes add urgency to the need for advanced new material solutions that can reduce part weight without sacrificing performance   Nikhil Verghese research fellow Technology Innovation at Sabic added This lifecycle assessment demonstrates the effectiveness of Sabics industry-leading thermoplastic composites-based solution offering in reducing carbon and energy footprints compared to metal We encourage customers to consider this data when selecting materials for automotive parts In the European Union 95 percent of all passenger cars must achieve 95 g km of carbon dioxide CO2 by 2020 with 100 percent compliance by 20211 In China and Japan the requirements are 117 g km of CO2 and 122 g km of CO2 respectively by 2020   Assessment parameters and results The lifecycle assessment performed in compliance with ISO 14040 44 compared a side door of a passenger car a typical sedan made with thermoplastic matrix composites comprising of UDMAX GPP 45-70 tape combined with an injection-molded grade of glass-filled thermoplastic resin to identical doors made of steel aluminum and magnesium Based on the design specifications the UDMAX tapes were converted into a laminate and then overmolded onto both sides of a substrate using Sabics STAMAX glass reinforced polypropylene product creating a hybrid material system Parameters for vehicle operation were based on three powertrains internal combustion no adaptation plug-in hybrid and electric operating over a lifetime of 200 000 km using the New European Driving Cycle The results for the internal combustion powertrain showed that the thermoplastic composite doors achieved lower global warming potential than any of the three metal doors 26 percent lower than steel 21 percent lower than aluminum and 37 percent lower than magnesium These numbers were slightly different for the hybrid and electric powertrains For cumulative energy demand the thermoplastic composite doors also achieved lower numbers than the metal doors 10 percent less than steel 13 percent less than aluminum and 26 percent less than magnesium for the internal combustion powertrain Again the results were slightly different for the hybrid and electric powertrains