Recycling parts from end-of-life vehicles to make vehicle manufacturing more sustainable: this is the challenge currently facing the automotive industry. The European Union (EU) is planning to introduce legal requirements to promote the circular economy in vehicle manufacturing.
One hurdle on the road to sustainability is the difficult dismantling of complex components, especially vehicle interior parts for repair, replacement, or recycling. The high number of connecting elements, the variety of plastics used, and the often complex design with welded and glued components make efficient dismantling, material separation, and recycling difficult.
In his master’s thesis, Mohammad Ansari developed a new method that makes it possible for the first time to systematically assess the suitability of vehicle interior parts for disassembly. This creates a systematic basis for decision-making for the quantitative evaluation of the recyclability of both current components and future, ideally more sustainable design strategies. In his thesis, the innovative approach is clearly illustrated and verified using the example of a center armrest.
The master’s thesis, entitled “Methodological Development for the Disassembly of Vehicle Interior Parts with a Focus on Design for Recycling and Design for Disassembly,” was written at the IKK – Institute of Plastics and Circular Economy at Leibniz University Hannover in collaboration with Grammer AG.
Mohammad Ansari received the Young Professionals Award for his outstanding work on vehicle recycling – an award presented by SPE Central Europe for young talents in plastics technology. The Young Professionals Award is intended to serve as a springboard to a successful career for young scientists and engineers. It was presented for the third time in 2025 by the International Plastics Society.
