At present, FIA has newly approved two high-performance aluminum alloys for 3D printing in 2021 season: a6061-ram1 and a2024-ram2. Both materials have high specific strength, which can save more weight for the car. Several other 3D printing metal materials were also approved, including Inconel 625, cobalt chromium alloy and other brands of titanium alloy and steel materials.
Up to now, the 3D printing metal materials approved by FIA include:
Aluminum alloy: alsi10mg, AlSi7Mg, Al cl-30al
Particle reinforced aluminum alloy: a20x, 2024-ram2, 6061-ram2
Aluminum magnesium alloy: scalalloy
Titanium alloy: Grade 1, grade 2, Ti6Al4V, Ti5553, Ti6242.
Steel alloy: 316304, MS1, 15-5PH, 17-4PH, 300m, 4140.
SUPERALLOYS: Inconel 625, Inconel 718, cobalt chromium alloy.
Beryllium free copper alloy.
In the 2020 season, Alfa Romeo team "C39" is equipped with 143 3D printing parts, including 58 titanium alloys, 19 high-performance aluminum alloys and 66 ordinary aluminum alloys, including chassis inserts, cooling circuit pipes, safety structures, light fairing and other body parts. Using 3D printing to produce these parts reduces the weight of the car by at least 2%, which is of great significance to the performance of F1 cars.
In order to further improve the performance of the car, Alfa Romeo further increased the use of 3D printing parts in the new car C41 in 2021 season to 304. Among them, the proportions of alsi10mg, scalalloy superalloy, Ti64 and stainless steel parts are 40%, 36%, 22% and 2% respectively. These parts of different materials are distributed in different positions in the car, making the total weight of 3D printing parts on C41 reach 14860g, slightly heavier than 13140g of C39.
Number of 3D printing materials and parts on alpha Romeo C39 and C41.
From the list of 3D printing metal materials released by FIA, it can be seen that many materials are not the current mainstream 3D printing materials, and many are newly developed materials that have not been fully verified. Therefore, we can also see the demand for 3D printing technology and new materials in this field.
