In the high-octane world of Formula 1, split seconds can mean the difference between success and failure, thus its teams push the sport’s technological boundaries to the absolute limit in pursuit of wins and championships.
Yet, while it has long been assumed that 3D printing is vital to the car iteration that ensues, the competitive nature of F1 means that many of its actual applications continue to be shrouded in mystery. One team that has begun to break that mold is theBWT Alpine F1团队, which revealed in June 2021 that it uses3D系统的精确复合PIV到create风洞测试的空气零件模型。
At the time, the disclosure provided a unique insight into the technology’s motorsport potential, but now taking the team’s open approach a step further, its Advanced Digital Manufacturing Manager Pat Warner has told 3D Printing Industry that it actually deploys 3D printing more extensively than many realize.
“Probably 70% of the bodywork you can see on a Formula 1 car in a wind tunnel is SLA 3D printed,” reveals Warner. “We can’t print things like front wing main planes or rear wing flaps, but pretty much everything else is open. If it’s not strong enough in SLA, we can do a secondary process of metal coating, which makes it a lot stronger. So most of our iteration testing is carried out with SLA.”
“We also use Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) to back that up,” he added. “We have a 3D Systems图4机器，制造模具工具和橡胶步态，用于悬架裹尸布。因此，它的添加剂一面使大部分进入风洞。”
From Benetton to BWT Alpine F1
忠实于他的话说，顺便说一句Alpine F1“以开放为荣”，华纳很友好，可以在团队采用3D印刷的一开始就开始采访。早在1998年，该团队拥有不同的所有权，并将被称为贝纳顿（Benetton）又有三年了。出于好奇的方式购买了SLA机器后，贝纳顿随后向年轻的华纳（Warner）收取了F1应用程序。
Looking back, Warner reminisces about how theMercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’sCTO James Allison, who was then an aerodynamicist at Benetton, said that “SLA had no place in the wind tunnel.” Since then, the Advanced Digital Manufacturing Manager says his team (like many others on the grid) has built out its 3D printing capabilities considerably, “using it heavily” to create 450-600 parts per week.
“The main benefit [of 3D printing] is the ability to do more than one part at a time,” explains Warner. “On an SLA machine, you can print as many as you can fit on the bed. You can make any wacky shapes you like, which suits the aerodynamicists perfectly. It also detracts from the ‘production queue’ of the machines used to make a race car, especially in winter when we’re making all-new body panels/chassis.”
One area that 3D printing has proven particularly useful in, is Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) data collection, a process in which a laser is used to assess the flow of particles over a given object. Leveraging 3D Systems’ Accura Composite PIV material, Warner says his team is now able to overcome the issue of background and particle reflections, challenges that can affect the quality of resulting data.
“The deep expertise of their application engineers and their industry-leading solutions have been an invaluable part of our innovation team,” Warner said when the project was unveiled. “It’s been exciting to co-develop Accura Composite PIV and see the benefits it’s bringing to our process. Due to the material’s unique optical characteristics, we are now collecting more reliable data from our PIV system in the wind tunnel.”
Addressing end-use F1 applications
In its current iteration, racing under theRenault-ownedAlpinebrand, the BWT Alpine F1 Team now utilizes 3D printing in all sorts of end-use applications as well. According to Warner, the blowers used to cool the team’s cars down when stationary are additively manufactured, as are the adapters used to plug them in, and the frames of the wheel nut guns deployed during mid-race pit stops.
On the subject of metal 3D printing, however, Warner is less optimistic that the technology is ready to produce end-use F1 components. Alluding to some recent tests carried out by his opposite numbers at theAston Martin Aramco CognizantandMcLaren Racing团队，高级数字制造经理甚至表明缺乏培训可能会使用户处于危险之中。
“McLaren did a good job of nearly blowing someone up,” alleges Warner. “They were an early adopter of SLS, and they got rid of it rather quickly when they nearly took down their facility. They’re not the only people to do that, Aston Martin have done the same thing.”
他补充说：“据称几个月前在阿斯顿·马丁发生了一场小火。”“好吧，这不是一场小火，那是一次大爆炸，占据了外墙的一部分。因此，我告诉您，您必须考虑一下，并确保您做得正确。”
华纳还列举了将材料和流程限定为F1采用的材料和流程所需的时间，并且由于这项运动刚刚同意了预算上限，他说团队对投资“白象”很谨慎。华纳说，使这些障碍更容易克服的原因是3D Systems产品的端到端性质及其应用工程师的专业知识。
“I’m quite a big fan of a ‘one stop shop,’” concludes Warner. “It’s what I like about 3D Systems, we use their machines, service technicians, spare parts and software. The software was written to work on their systems using their materials, so if needed, then the engineers can come and see what went wrong. We’re trying to put all these jigsaw puzzles together to really get the right result.”
Where else is 3D printing used in F1?
Although the full extent of 3D printing adoption in F1 remains something of a mystery, we do know of a few more partnerships that have seen the technology deployed on-track.Williams Racing, for instance, worked withNexa3Dlast season to producefunctional Formula 1 wind tunnel partsleveraging the company’s high-speedNXE4003D打印机。
McLaren Racing is also understood to have used用于工具和原型制作的3D打印轨道至少从2017年开始。团队有一个与Stratasys长期合作, which has seen it fabricate various different mock-ups and on-demand spare parts over the years, including brake cooling ducts, rear wing flaps and more.
尽管华纳对金属3D印刷有担忧，但Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN继续与Additive Industries到3D print critical components for its F1 car。尽管今年的Challenger的添加剂制造的空气动力学零件比最后一个较少，但现在据说更多的是结构性的，例如用于将其“ C41”赛车融合在一起的悬架底盘插入物。
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以图像显示BWT高山F1团队之一’s cars in the pits at the Miami Formula 1 GP. Photo via the BWT Alpine F1 Team.
