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Lightweight structures in vehicles are a proven way to reduce fuel consumption and the environmental impact during the use. Lower structural weight can be achieved by using high performance materials such as composites or using the material efficiently as a sandwich structure. Traditional composite materials such as carbon or glass fiber reinforced polymers have high weight specific mechanical properties but are inherently brittle and expensive. They consist of at least two different materials making recycling a difficult endeavor.The best composite material would have good weight specific properties and is ductile, cheap and comprises of a reinforcement and matrix material based on the same recyclable material making recycling easy. In self-reinforced polymer (SrP) composite materials, reinforcing fibers and matrix material are based on the same recyclable thermoplastic polymer making recycling to a straightforward process. SrP composite materials are ductile, inexpensive and have a high energy absorption potential. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the potential of SrP composites in structural applications. Firstly, the quasi-static and dynamic tensile and compression properties of a self-reinforced poly(ethylene terephthalate) (SrPET) composite material are investigated confirming the high energy absorption potential. Sandwich structures out of only SrPET with a lattice core are manufactured and tested in quasi-static out-of-plane compression showing the potential of SrPET as core material. Corrugated sandwich structured out of only SrPET are manufactured and tested in out-of-plane compression over a strain rate range10−4 s−1 - 103 s−1. The corrugated SrPET core has similar quasi-static properties as commercial polymeric foams but superior dynamic compression properties. Corrugated sandwich beams out of only SrPET are manufactured and tested in quasi-static three-point bending confirming the high energy absorption potential of SrPET structures. When comparing the SrPET beams to aluminum beams with identical geometry and weight, the SrPET beams shows higher energy absorption and peak load. The experimental results show excellent agreement with finite element predictions. The impact behaviorof corrugated SrPET sandwich beams during three-point bending is investigated. When comparing SrPET sandwich beams to sandwich beams with carbon fiber face sheets and high performance thermoset polymeric foam with the same areal weight, for the same impact impulse per area, the SrPET shows less mid-span deflection. / <p>QC 20151012</p> / ECO2

Awareness of anthropogenic climate change has increased drastically in the last decade. With the help of the United Nations and the 17 sustainable development goals, there is now an international consensus that measures must be taken urgently. Actions towards reducing our climate impact have started to take place in various industries and one important sector is the food sector. This thesis is addressed to companies that help consumers make smarter and more climate friendly food decisions with the help of climate data. More specifically the scope of this thesis was to develop and evaluate a climate impact visualization application with consumers as the intended target group. The foundation of the intervention included theories in behaviour change and information visualization design principles. The application was evaluated with 11 participants looking to reduce their climate impact. A user study was conducted where the participants used the developed intervention by completing different tasks and then evaluated the experience and the different components of the application. The purpose of the evaluation was to gain qualitative insights of which components should be considered in the development process of a final product. The results indicate that visualizations of the products carbon dioxide emissions, receipt list and personal progress tracking were the most important components for the application. The result also gave positive indications that a similar application could help change the user’s behaviour when purchasing food to a more climate friendly pattern. / Medvetenheten om antropogena klimatförändringar har ökat drastiskt under det senaste decenniet. Med hjälp av FN och de 17 målen för hållbar utveckling finns det nu en internationell enighet om att åtgärder måste vidtas snarast. Åtgärder för att minska vår klimatpåverkan har börjat äga rum i olika branscher och en viktig sektor är livsmedelssektorn. Denna avhandling riktar sig till företag som hjälper konsumenter att fatta smartare och mer klimatvänliga livsmedelsbeslut med hjälp av klimatdata. Mer specifikt omfattar denna avhandling att utveckla och utvärdera en visualiseringsapplikation för klimatpåverkan med konsumenter som den avsedda målgruppen. Grunden för interventionen inkluderar teorier inom beteendeförändring och design-principer för informationsvisualisering. Applikationen utvärderades med 11 deltagare som ville minska sin klimatpåverkan. En användarstudie genomfördes där deltagarna använde den utvecklade applikationen genom att utföra olika uppgifter för att sedan utvärdera upplevelsen och de olika komponenterna i applikationen. Syftet med utvärderingen var att få kvalitativa insikter om vilka komponenter som bör beaktas i utvecklingsprocessen för en slutprodukt. Resultaten indikerar att visualiseringar av produkternas koldioxidutsläpp, kvittolista och personlig framstegsspårning var de viktigaste komponenterna för applikationen. Resultatet gav också positiva indikationer på att en liknande applikation skulle kunna hjälpa till att ändra användarens beteende när man handlar mat till ett mer klimatvänligt mönster.