(This article is a repost from the Statasys corporate blog.)
Lamborghini’s 50 year heritage has seen the brand become synonymous with extreme and uncompromising automotive design.
With a 50 year heritage that has seen its brand become synonymous with extreme and uncompromising automotive design, Lamborghini relies upon the most cutting edge technologies to uphold its reputation for automotive excellence. Meeting this objective is aided by the company’s continued use of Stratasys FDM-based 3D printing technology, which Lamborghini employs throughout the entire lifecycle of its parts, from rapid prototyping applications to direct digital manufacturing of end-use parts. As you’re about to see, Stratasys additive manufacturing brings several major advantages to automotive engineering including greater design freedom since manufacturing is performed in a digital environment, the accelerated development of functional prototype parts, the ability to produce durable, heat-resistant parts using thermoplastics, and overall faster responsiveness to market demands.
Tough Parts with Complex Geometries Delivered in Record Time
According to Fabio Serrazanetti of Lamborghini’s car body technical department, the requirement to produce high-strength end-use parts, tough enough to endure the rigors of high-speed racing, as well as the need to create complex geometries in a very tight timeframe, led the company’s engineers to explore Fortus 3D Production Systems by Stratasys.
“We use Stratasys FDM-based 3D printing technology to produce end-use parts because, quite simply, it meets all the requirements demanded of it,” he said. “In the motor racing world, the capability to output very quickly highly durable parts and components within a seemingly unlimited design scope offers an unprecedented advantage. We use our Fortus 3D Production Systems to typically – but not exclusively – produce high-performance aesthetic parts, including profiles and air conducts.”
Accelerated prototyping with in-house additive manufacturing capabilities
Beyond the race-track, Stratasys has also accelerated Lamborghini’s rapid prototyping applications by slashing costs and enhancing workflow efficiencies. Having previously outsourced its prototyping requirements, operations were brought in house in 2007 with the installation of aStratasys Dimension 1200es 3D Printer, purchased through Stratasys’ Italian dealer, Energy Group s.r.l.This was subsequently followed by a Stratasys Fortus 360mc Production System three years later, before the most recent investment with Energy Group in 2013 – a muscular Fortus 400mc Production System with a large build envelope.
As Serrazanetti explains, the in-house FDM printing systems quickly delivered a raft of important and tangible benefits: “Outsourcing our rapid prototyping operations proved both a lengthy and costly exercise,” he said. “Today we have overall greater control of such projects and have optimized lead times and reduced costs in the process.”
Serrazanetti and his team utilize Stratasys’ technology predominantly to produce scale models and advanced functional prototype parts for design verification and fit and form suitability. These include an array of different exterior parts – from section bumpers, grills, aesthetic frames and those in the engine bay – to various interior parts that span door panels, seat covers, steering wheels along with aerodynamic components such as conveyors and air heaters. FDM eliminates tooling, which keeps costs down and allows rapid iteration on new designs without manufacturing constraints.
Material usage spans the gamut
3D printed air aspiration engine conduit produced in ULTEM 9085 on a Stratasys Fortus 400mc
3D Production System enables fast and cost-effective functional testing.
Within these applications, the choice of material used will vary according to high temperature requirements and the level of stress subjected upon the model during assembly, dimensional and mechanical testing.
“We aim to use materials that mimic the material properties of the final product as far as possible,” explains Serrazanetti. “For example, we currently use Stratasys’ ULTEM 9085 FDM thermoplastic with the Fortus 400mc to produce high-performance parts for the grill as they will be subjected to high temperatures from the engine compartment.
“We also use production-grade thermoplastic, ABS-M30, as well as PC-ABS,” he adds. “Indeed, this is perfectly suited to producing certain interior parts as it also offers excellent feature definition and surface finish, making it better aesthetically.”
In addition, Serrazanetti and his team use the ULTEM thermoplastic to respond to the occasional urgent request from technicians at Lamborghini’s Advanced Composite Research Center. “We’re sometimes called upon to produce ULTEM models, on which very thin carbon fiber sheets are laid down and moulded around to produce carbon fiber parts,” he explains. “Using ULTEM in this way reflects the key attributes of FDM technology in that it allows us to quickly and confidently produce extremely strong complex parts when the timeframe leaves the technicians with no other option.”
Lamborghini designers can easily produce virtually any shape part, such as this elbow support door panel, 3D printed on a Stratasys Fortus 400mc 3D Production System from tough ULTEM 9085 resin.
Serrazanetti and his team typically test functional prototype parts on static scale model cars in a dedicated area of Lamborghini’s quality control department, as well as mount 3D printed parts onto working prototype versions of the company’s next launches. These cars then undergo more intensive track or road testing in order to gauge a more realistic performance evaluation of specific parts during the development phase.
Winning partnership for the road ahead
Given the ability to dramatically improve cost and production efficiencies within Lamborghini’s rapid prototyping operations, Serrazanetti admits that Stratasys 3D printing technology makes his and his team’s life easier.
“At the moment Stratasys’ technology delivers the fastest and most economical means of constructing prototype parts for us,” he said.
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