Formula 1 represents the maximum expression of technology applied to four wheels. A sort of laboratory for all engineering disciplines: mechanics, aerodynamics, electronics and software. As a result, multiple innovations introduced in motorsport were later used on road cars.
For some years, however, the trend seems to have changed. An emblematic example is the introduction of hybrid power units in 2014, despite the fact that many companies in the automotive sector had already consolidated these architectures for some time in their production of road models. One of the most fascinating sectors in the field of production is the technology called “additive manufacturing“.
The increasingly complex shapes created by designers have prompted technicians to approach the additive manufacturing revolution more and more. The latter differs from traditional processing technologies because it does not remove material from the component, but creates very complex three-dimensional details through the progressive deposit of layers of material.
The additive manufacturing process has as its main purpose the creation of solid parts. For this reason we always start from a 3D CAD model which is converted into the format necessary to make it usable for processing. Once the model has been imported into the software of the machine responsible for making the desired component, the model is generally divided into a succession of layers of small thickness which will be made in layers by the machine.
Only in the phase following production can the created component be subjected to post-production treatments, among which we can find chemical and thermal manipulations but, at the same time, there are also finishing processes with machine tools.
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But what are the advantages of production through the additive manufacturing process? Additive manufacturing requires less use of raw materials, allows for a significant reduction in production times, decreases costs relating to the need for raw materials and, finally, allows overcoming the constraints of traditional processes by creating complex geometries.
Additive manufacturing is a rapidly growing methodology within the teams. Initially, Formula 1 teams used it for prototyping components to be tested in wind tunnels. While in recent years, the advantages offered by this technology have found space in the creation of cars and power units.
Within the technical areas of the teams, departments specifically dedicated to adaptive manufacturing have been set up. An example above all is the McLaren structure. Tim Chapman is the head of the AD (Additive Manufacturing, ed.) division and in a recent interview he was able to describe the enormous importance of this practice:
“SLA technology of materials has evolved so much recently that it is changing the way it is used. We no longer just produce prototypes with this technology; now we create a lot of full-sized components. Nonetheless, wind tunnel testing is still the gold standard for assessing how well each surface works together, both as an assembly and for the complete car.”
The English engineer is a specialist in rapid prototyping processes (Rapid Prototyping, ed) and since 2021 he has become head of the Additive Manufacturing division of the historic Woking team with great success.
Scuderia Ferrari has invested in technological research for the creation of the cylinder head on the 066/7 power unit. The goal is to increase resistance to deformation caused by the escalation of ever higher supercharging temperatures. The technology used by the Prancing Horse for the production of metal components is called Selective Laser Melting.
This is a very important procedural method but which needs perfect refinement to be as profitable as possible. Considering the problems suffered during the 2022 Formula One championship by the F1-75 engine inside the pre-combustion chamber, we cannot exclude that the adoption of this innovative manufacturing process may have partly influenced the problematic scenario that occurred before the summer.
Nonetheless, Additive Manufacturing continued to be used. The Ferrari technicians have carried out several tests to increase the feeling with the new procedures, as well as the creation of the components, to identify reliability problems and, consequently, correct any mechanical imperfections.
SLM melts metal powders into a homogeneous mass instead of sintering them. The materials that can be used can have a thickness of 20 to 10 µm (micromillimeter) and the products obtained, in terms of reliability and performance, are similar to those of other laser beam technologies.
It is more than evident how additive manufacturing makes it possible to obtain almost zero margins of imperfection in the creation of parts that require tolerances in the order of submultiples of the millimetre. After introducing the new technology to create the cylinder block, Ferrari also used Additive Manufacturing to create the supports for the 3D PBF printed sensors in polymer, mounted on the F1-75 during free practice for the Australian Grand Prix.
In fact, five laser sensors appeared on the Italian car: one in the center under the main profile and two on each side located below the vertical side screens. These sensors have allowed a precise mapping of the height of the wing and its variations according to the speed, ergo of the vertical load.
In modern Formula 1, where the costs of the teams are limited by the financial regulation, innovative technologies such as additive manufacturing which reduce time, costs and guarantee a level of precision superior to traditional processes, will increasingly become a discipline used in vast areas of the future single-seaters.
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