Environmental impact of various kayak core materials
Name
319422684-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
1.18 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
8cc7f2355ee3b56be2f528e646835de3
Author(s)
Kirkland, David R. (David Roger)
Advisor(s)
David R. Wallace.
Date Issued
2008
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This thesis compares the environmental impact of fiberglass, Kevlar, carbon fiber, and cork. A kayak company is interested in using cork as a core material, and would like to claim that it is the most environmentally friendly of the four materials listed above. The efficacy of that claim is evaluated by modeling the manufacturing process, generating an input - output model and performing an exergy analysis. The environmental impact of kayak core material construction on the over impact of kayak construction is nominal. Beyond that, the comparison of core materials results in a qualitative ranking from least to most impact, which is fiberglass, cork, carbon fiber then Kevlar. The diversity of impact, from noxious gases, energy use, volatile liquids, land use and toxic wastes necessitates a qualitative analysis when full exergy data wasn't available. Because of this, the comparison was quantitatively based on the energy use and qualitatively based on each chemicals material safety data.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 26).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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