Research on the Whole Life Cycle Assessment of Automobile Instrument Cross Beam Based on Lightweight

To study the environmental impact of automobile components, life cycle assessment (LCA) is adopted to study the environmental impact of instrument cross beams made of steel and magnesium alloy crossbeams. Comparative environmental impact analyses of both instrument crossbeams are conducted through parametric analysis, scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis, and future forecasting in GaBi10. The results show that global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), and photochemical ozone generation potential (POCP) of steel instrument crossbeams are better than those of magnesium alloy crossbeams at a running mileage of 150,000 km, with 534,400 km as a turning point for GWP. The sensitivity analysis shows that a 10% reduction in raw material usage would lead to a 1.65% decrease in GWP for the steel beam and a 6.46% decrease for the magnesium alloy beam. Similarly, a 10% reduction in operating power would result in a 6.83% decrease in GWP for the steel beam and a 3.12% decrease for the magnesium alloy crossbeam. Furthermore, a future scenario analysis was conducted in GaBi, using China's projected electricity emissions data for 2025, 2030, and 2040. The results show that, under these scenarios, the GWP reduction for steel crossbeams is more than double that of magnesium alloy crossbeams, indicating a significantly more significant reduction. This paper provides a theoretical basis for research on the environmental impact of automobile lightweighting.