Audi backs metal 3D printing potential but warns it’s ‘far from economical’

Interest in 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, among automotive players has been growing as vehicle manufacturers and suppliers seek to harness its potential. Audi is one of the OEMs keen to make use of the new technology, particularly for the building of tools and prototypes. Among its many benefits, 3D enables geometries that would otherwise be extremely difficult - in some cases impossible - to realise.

Last autumn Audi set up a 3D Metal Printing Center at its headquarter in Ingolstadt, where specialists from toolmaking work side-by-side with experts from the Casting Technical Center of Production Planning. In cooperation with the Technical Development division, they are able to use three metal printers to produce steel and aluminium parts for testing in engines and suspension. The machines start the process using metal powder with a grain size of 15 to 40 micrometers and can take any weldable material. The printer deposits the power in wafer-thin layers onto a base plate, while a laser supplied with CAD data melts one layer at a time to create the contours of the final part.

Harald Eibisch, an engineer in the area of casting additive manufacturing technology development, is one of Audi's expert on 3D printing and an outspoken proponent for the potential of the technology.