Prospective life cycle assessment of redesigned airplane rudder with thermoplastic composites

Abstract The aviation industry is innovating to decrease its environmental impacts while maintaining high standards of safety. For example, new thermoplastic composite materials are being investigated to reduce weight and allow for material recycling (currently impossible with incumbent thermoset composites). To investigate this, a prospective life cycle assessment quantified the future environmental impacts and potential benefits of an airplane rudder, redesigned with thermoplastic sandwich shell materials. Reproducible inventory data are provided. The substitution with thermoplastics decreased environmental impacts by approximately 20% and 6% during combined manufacturing and end-of-life stages, and during aircraft operations, respectively. Sandwich shell production contributed the most to the environmental impacts of rudder manufacturing, highlighting it as a key process that should be prioritized in the supply chain. Increased recycling of components and changes of more thermoset parts to thermoplastics were also explored as further potential innovations. This study calls on aircraft manufacturers to consider three key actions: implementing more thermoplastics in composites to decrease part weight, increasing the recycling of aircraft components at end-of-life, and broadening environmental assessments beyond climate change to avoid burden shifting.