Why can’t we 3D-print an entire car?
“In material science and engineering, there are no impossible things – so it’s just a matter of time, research, activity and investment,” says Torralba, director at the IMDEA Materials Institute in Spain. “Today it’s not possible, but in the future, who knows?” That being said, there are quite a few roadblocks ahead. Much of the difficulty today comes from the fact that different parts of the car are made from different materials. This makes printing the whole car in one go impossible. Of course, it’s possible to print different parts of the car and assemble them, but even that plan faces difficulties. The technology has advanced enough that we can now 3D-print metals, though this is far slower. For some specific parts of the car – in particular anything concerning the body or surface – 3D printing is inefficient compared to existing methods. “Today, 3D printing does not offer the most complete advantage, including design, shape and, of course, price,” adds Torralba. Printing an engine, essentially a single large metallic part, would take many hours to do, he explains. If you want to meet average industry targets of around 100 000 cars per month, 3D printing just can’t keep up. The greatest limitation of 3D printing today is the size of the system, including the printer and lasers. If you want to eventually print out entire vehicles, you’d need some pretty big printers to do it. In principle though, Torralba says, even the best properties of vehicles could be achieved through 3D printing. Putting a date on the first entirely 3D-printed car is tricky, says Torralba, but scientific progress and technological innovation could move quickly in this area. “Today we have strongly surpassed many of the predictions of 10 or even five years ago,” he notes, pointing to advances such as artificial intelligence, which is already helping to progress materials science and complex modelling. In the CNSTech project, which was funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, Torralba led a team of researchers to develop 3D-printable superalloys, which perform better than traditional metals in high-temperature applications. Rather than cars, these new materials could boost the performance and efficiency of aerospace engines. So be prepared to wait a while for a 3D-printed car. But who knows – perhaps it’s just around the corner. Click here to find out more about José Manuel Torralba’s research: Novel 3D-printable high entropy superalloys to withstand extreme heat
Keywords
CNSTech, alloys, 3D printing, car, aerospace, efficiency, artificial intelligence