China3D printingOn August 12th, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) has publicly stated that it will mass-produce new auto parts with metal 3D printing technology in the next two to three years. Specifically, Harold Sears, Ford’s head of AM technology, said that it will rely on ExOne (NASDAQ: XONE) metal adhesive spraying to achieve full production of the final part. As it completes the mass production process of the project, it plans to extend the technology to other parts.
Ford has been using 3D printing for a long time, first relying on this technology for prototyping, and later becoming an early adopter and development partner of cutting-edge technology, such as Carbon’s digital light synthesis. Not surprisingly, it will become the leader in additive manufacturing (AM) of metal end parts.
Ford uses digital light synthesis technology to 3D print special vehicles. Image courtesy of Carbon.
The key to the development is ExOne’s recent achievements in 3D printing aluminum 6061, whose physical properties are comparable to die-cast components. Sears stated that the ability to 3D print and sinter metals in a repeatable manner makes Ford “believe that additive manufacturing can be expanded to support the number of cars.”
Although Sears did not specify why the vehicle makes which parts-except that it is a “very popular model” of Ford Motors-but he pointed out that it will reduce weight and size, improve performance, reduce costs and production time due to reduced The complexity of assembly is reduced. This means that multiple components can be combined into one project. “We found an application where the design of additive manufacturing is very suitable,” Sears said.
Due to the inherent problems of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), Ford turned to binder jetting. It tested the use of LPBF with aluminum, but found the support structure to be challenging. In contrast, adhesive jetting can produce high-volume parts using post-processing techniques that are already standard in metal injection molding. The only problem is that there is no aluminum material available for their application.
ExOne cooperated with Ford for qualified aluminum adhesive jetting 3D printing. Image courtesy of ExOne.
Because ExOne is already developing aluminum, it worked with Ford to speed up the process, and after a year and a half, they achieved their goal. In fact, not only were they able to simply prepare the metal for the adhesive spray, they also improved the post-processing of the technology to achieve the necessary part characteristics.
The next step is to complete the development of the part itself. In turn, this will lead to other applications of the company. “High-speed aluminum 3D printing paved the way for other opportunities that we were just starting to consider because it was previously impossible to make complex parts from aluminum. This really opened the door to other opportunities,” Sears said.
Interestingly, this news was released shortly after Volkswagen announced that it would 3D print the end parts of the upcoming T-Roc convertible. The technology of choice is Metal Jet, which is HP’s view of metal adhesive jetting. Volkswagen’s goal is to use this process to produce approximately 100,000 parts per year by 2025 and is currently testing T-Roc parts.
If these two car giants disclose their use of metal 3D printing for the production of terminal parts, we can only assume that they are just the tip of the iceberg. Soon, other competitors in the field will show off their use of AM in terminal parts, and hey, maybe you will find 3D printed components in your next new car.
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