Audi builds scale replica of race car using metal Additive Manufacturing
November 11, 2015
Audi Toolmaking has produced a scale model of a 1936 Auto Union Typ C Grand Prix sports car to demonstrate its metal Additive Manufacturing capabilities. The company is said to be currently examining further possible applications of metal AM systems for the production of complex components.
“We are pushing forward with new manufacturing technologies at Audi Toolmaking and at the Volkswagen Group,” stated Prof. Dr. Hubert Waltl, Audi’s Board of Management Member for Production and Head of Toolmaking at the Volkswagen Group. “Together with partners in the area of research, we are constantly exploring the boundaries of new processes. One of our goals is to apply metal printers in series production.”
The Volkswagen Group has a total of 14 toolmaking units in nine countries. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Waltl, cooperative ventures have been arranged for research and development. The first focus of the cooperation is the implementation of metallic 3D printing and 3D printing in the sand-printing method.
Audi Toolmaking is currently using Additive Manufacturing to produce components out of aluminium and steel. At present, this process can be used to produce shapes and objects with a length of 240 mm and a height of up to 200 mm. These printed components achieved a higher density than components made by die casting or hot forming.
Audi Toolmaking will be exhibiting at this year’s formnext trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany, November 17 – 20. From its exhibition booth Audi will showcase the Additive Manufacturing production technologies already applied in toolmaking today.
“The paradigms of the smart factory are changing our work in the Toolmaking division. In the future, we will connect equipment, machinery and people even more closely with each other, and will make use of new methods to develop even more flexible and precise tools,” stated Michael Breme, Head of Toolmaking at Audi AG
