Comparative life cycle assessment of thermoplastic and thermosetting CFRP in aerospace applications

Abstract

This work quantifies and compares the environmental impact of a thermoset CFRP aircraft skin panel to that of a thermoplastic CFRP panel. This comparison is done using a cradle to gate life cycle assessment including impacts from raw material extraction, manufacturing and end of life. In addition, a hotspot analysis was performed to identify processes with the highest contribution to environmental impacts of the panels. The results show that the thermoplastic panel performed better in three endpoint damage categories including damage to human health, ecosystem and resources. The results also identify carbon fibre production, electricity usage for curing/consolidation and prepreging as the major contributors to the life cycle impacts of both panels. This provides decision makers with insights on where to focus on for future improvement actions aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of CFRP structures.