Lightweight design versus raw materials criticalities

The 4th list of Critical Raw Materials has been published by the European Commission at the beginning of September 2020. A trend of increased criticality is observed for all raw materials in 2020 compared to 2017 and four new critical raw materials appeared (bauxite, titanium, lithium, and strontium) that pose new restrictions in lightweight design of metallic components. Based on a materials selection methodology developed in literature to face such emerging issues, the criticality assessment of light alloys is evaluated and rationally considered in lightweight design by using a trade-off material selection strategy. A simplified case-study is proposed as an example.