When it comes to industrial applications for 3D printing, the two most obvious ones are aerospace and medical devices. It’s easy to see why: both industries deal in low-volume, high-margin parts which often require costly materials that are challenging for conventional machining and fabricating techniques.
The automotive industry, in contrast, generally deals in high-volume, low-margin parts using less expensive materials that are much more amenable to traditional manufacturing processes. While it’s true that prototyping and, in some instances, jigs and fixtures benefit from 3D printing technology, full-scale additive manufacturing is still a rarity in the auto industry.
That may be changing, however, with the announcement that British sports car maker Aston Martin has teamed up with Polish hydraulic systems manufacturer Domin and Cranfield University to develop a new suspension system in just six months. Additive manufacturing is the key to this tight timeline, with the design for the new fully active suspension technology (FAST) based on Domin’s 3D-printed valve technology.
The valves utilize 25 fluid galleries operating in unison to transport hydraulic fluid throughout the system, all of which are encased within a core produced by additive manufacturing. According to Domin, “The curvilinear nature of the unit internals is achievable only through additive manufacture, which also allows its exceptional mechanical properties.”
The FAST system is contrasted with a conventional passive suspension, which compensates for the effects of changing road surfaces through a combination of variable damping and spring rate. Domin claims that its FAST units will provide “infinite variability in damping, with a step response as fast as 0.015 seconds...in a package weight under 4kg per unit.”
While Aston Martin will provide the test rig for putting FAST units on the road, Cranfield will provide vehicle modelling and early-stage validation. Surprisingly, the project is funded by the UK’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles, which isn’t exactly the most immediate association one would make with Aston Martin. No doubt, support from the Niche Vehicle Network—an industry association of specialty carmakers—helped secure the government backing.
Obviously, this is still a far cry from using additive manufacturing to produce components for mass market vehicles, but it does point toward the potential impact 3D printing technology can have on the auto industry in the near future. As the costs of additive manufacturing come down and the requisite domain expertise to use it proliferates, many of the same benefits that make AM appealing for aerospace and medical device applications could accelerate adoption in the automotive industry.
Consider the primary reason Domin cites for 3D printing its FAST units: the curvilinear nature of its internal channels. Hydraulic valves certainly aren’t the only automotive component that could utilize complex internal geometries which cannot be manufactured with traditional techniques such as casting or milling. Pumps, radiators, transmissions and other complex, high-value automotive assemblies could all potentially benefit from this unique advantage of AM.
The potential for lightweighting is another tantalizing possibility, especially in light of the constant pressure to improve fuel efficiency. Will we see 3D-printed car bodies—like the one that wowed attendees at IMTS 2014—in our lifetime? Almost certainly not. Unless we can find a way to 3D print metals at speeds comparable to stamping, it’s unlikely that we’ll see additive manufacturing supplant such a tried-and-true manufacturing technology.
In fact, it has been estimated that additive manufacturing accounts for less than one percent of automotive production. On the other hand, luxury brands such as Aston Martin are an obvious avenue for the growth of 3D printing technology in the automotive sector. Indeed, the British sports car maker has utilized additive manufacturing before.
In 2016, the company announced a partnership with automotive castings manufacturer Grainger & Worrall, which used 3D sand printing technology to produce complex sand cores for the DB11’s V12 engine. More recently, when Aston Martin unveiled its AM-RB 003 concept car at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, the company highlighted its 3D-printed center console as “a part that removes 50 percent of the mass.”
Electric vehicles had to gain popularity in the high-end market before seeing mass adoption, and the transition from internal combustion engines to electric motors is still ongoing nearly two decades after the first Tesla Roadster. With projects like the FAST system, the growth of additive manufacturing in automotive manufacturing could very well be following a similar path.
For more information, check out our video analysis of automotive additive applications.