Domestic Titanium Alloy 3D Printed 2-Piece Wheels Will Be Loaded and Used
Metal 3D printing has appeared in a number of applications in foreign luxury car brands; however, due to the high cost, domestic car manufacturers have relatively few applications; if Chinese domestic car manufacturers start to use it, it is expected to open up a huge market application.
On September 22, 2021, Antarctic Bear learned that ASCENSION Design, a domestic design company, demonstrated the world's first practical 3D-printed 2-piece titanium alloy wheel hub. According to the person in charge of the company, the wheel hub has passed the national standard performance test experiment and meets the performance conditions and requirements on the road. It will be delivered to the first batch of customers for loading on the road in the near future.
It is understood that the wheel hub has a specification of 20 inches, and the outer ring is made of carbon fiber; the inner ring is made of titanium alloy, which is 3D printed as a whole at a time (using a Platinum special four-laser large-scale SLM laser metal 3D printer with a molding size of up to 600mm), which takes 4 to 5 days. The diameter of the printed part is 500mm; the weight of a single wheel is 10kg, which is 40% lighter than the weight of traditional wheels, and the overall performance is improved by more than 30%.
According to the person in charge, compared with traditional manufacturing methods, 3D printing can realize the customization of wheels, truly meet the customization needs of different customers, and create cool shapes that traditional manufacturing methods cannot achieve.
△The report of Jiangsu Dongfang Wheel Hub Inspection and Testing Center shows that this titanium alloy 3D printed wheel hub has passed the national standard performance test experiment and meets the performance conditions and requirements on the road.
The complex hollow and floating design can only be realized on 3D printing technology. Not only does it greatly save the weight of the structure, only the force-bearing structure is manufactured, and it also greatly increases the sense of technology and future of the wheel hub.
AscAscension Design's First Generation Spliced 3D Printed Wheels
Ascension Design also showed the company's first-generation spliced 3D printed wheel hub (printed by Farsoon Hi-tech equipment). According to reports, the inner ring of this wheel hub is made of 5 pieces spliced together, but it does not meet the performance requirements of loading the car on the road. .
Antarctic Bear roughly estimates that it is calculated based on a car with 4 wheels. If the annual output of a car with such wheels reaches 10,000, then 40,000 titanium alloy 3D printed wheels are required. If the time to print a wheel hub in metal 3D is 5 days and the annual production time is 300 days, then the annual production capacity of nearly 700 large metal 3D printers will be required to meet the demand. One product can greatly increase the scale of the entire metal 3D printing application. This will greatly promote the large-scale industrial application of metal 3D printing in China.
In addition, cars with titanium alloy 3D-printed wheels will be different and cool. Do you want to buy them?
