Abstract:

Today we are producing a large number of industrial products and generating considerable volume of waste and these require an increasing area of the dumps and landfills at the end of the product life. Therefore it is necessary that among other things, we need accurate information about materials, manufacturing processes and assessment of environmental impact. In developing a sustainable product, the life cycle analysis plays an important role which at the same time is not an easy task to accomplish. The life cycle assessment in fact plays a key role to decide the best alternatives in the selection of materials and processes for a product. There exist several software to carry out life cycle assessment (LCA). In this article our aim is to discuss the material selection process for products and explore to carry out an LCA for some products of low technological complexity. Since Engineering students of today are going to be product designers of 21st Century, they must learn to select right materials and processes during the design phase. The results presented in this article highlight the complexity and importance of proper selection process of materials for sustainability.