Multinational automotive manufacturerFord已经揭示了其标志性的福特GT超级跑车的新型赛车风格的模型，并具有增强性能的3D印刷组件。
With the final Heritage Edition of its historic racer, the Ford GT LM, Ford has sought to blend old with new, building around a shape similar to that of its 2016 Le Mans-winning race car, with modern technologies. Like its series predecessors, the GT LM is powered by a huge 660hp 3.5 liter V6, but it also features several 3D printed elements, including a titanium dual exhaust with a unique cyclonic design.
“With innovative materials, design and engineering, the Ford GT is unlike any other production supercar,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance Motorsports. “As we close this chapter of the road-going Ford GT, the GT LM Edition gave us a chance to inject even more heart and soul from a podium-finishing race car, furthering the tribute to our 2016 Le Mans win.”
福特的高级制造利用
Ever since adopting one of the early SLA 3 systems back in the late-1980s, Ford has sought to integrate 3D printing into the R&D and manufacture of its production vehicles. Ahead of艾伦·李’s AMUG keynote在去年的活动中，福特的增材制造业技术领导者解释了现在如何利用该技术生产最终用途的夹具，固定装置和汽雷电竞充值车零件以及风洞测试。
A significant amount of the firm’s 3D printing activities take place at itsAdvanced Manufacturing Center(AMC), a complex with SLA, FDM and SLS manufacturing capabilities. Engineers at the facility are primarily tasked with assessing the feasibility of 3D printed parts while working out ways Ford can better utilize the technology, and their efforts continue to be reflected in its road cars.
Earlier this year, for instance, Ford released CAD files that enable customers to3D print Maverick pickup truck accessories, such as cup holders or phone mounts for its center console. This was followed by an initiative withHP，其中公司开发了一种将3D打印废物回收为F-250零件with improved chemical and moisture resistance.
Elsewhere in its manufacturing workflow, Ford partnered withCarbonin 2015, to work onDLS 3D printing automotive prototypes，其长期目标是将技术用于最终用途生产。从那以后，公司开始部署自动机器人操作3D打印机雷电竞app下载within its production line, and create parts of theMustang Shelby GT500.
向福特的勒芒成功致敬
Having taken a 1-2-3 sweep of the 1966 Le Mans podium, following a race-long battle with Ferrari that has since been immortalized in movie form, the Ford GT’s place in automotive history was already secure. However, fifty years later, the Ford GT was at it again, when the third-generation of the supercar was driven to another victory at Circuit de la Sarthe, by Joey Hand, Sebastien Bourdais and Dirk Muller.
过去的传统版的公路上ord GT, Ford aims to pay tribute to this success, by launching a limited edition vehicle that features several nods to the past, but draws on the technologies of the future. Under the hood, the GT LM packs a twin-turbo EcoBoost engine with a titanium 3D printed dual exhaust, designed to allow this to breathe and deliver up to 550 lb-ft of torque.
As with all twenty GT LM Edition supercars, Ford’s latest is also fitted with a badge made from the ground-up crankshaft of its podium-finishing 2016 car. Using the resulting powder, the firm is said to have developed a bespoke alloy, with which it has 3D printed the vehicle’s instrument panel badge, thus it carries a small part of the car it’s paying tribute to.
On the inside, the tributes continue with the GT LM’s interior, which can be finished with red or blue trimmings, in homage to the colors of the number 48 race car that won in 2016, while on the performance side, its front splitter, rear diffuser and mirror stalks are made from an advanced material that lightweight the whole package.
Those willing (and wealthy enough) to buy the GT LM will have to act fast, as it’s set to be ultra-exclusive with only twenty being manufactured. Deliveries of the final model-year Ford GT LM begin this fall, with production wrapping up later this year.
As automotive enthusiasts will no doubt be aware, supercars have long been fitted with one-off parts made using exotic materials and even more advanced manufacturing processes. This trend has increasingly seen carmakers turn to additive manufacturing. For example,阿斯顿·马丁的新的DBR22具有3D打印后副帧， 由。。。生产Czinger 21cdeveloperDivergent Technologies.
今年6月，Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Brumos Racing also ran a3D打印升级的保时捷. Developed with theAirtech高级材料组, these updates made it lighter, more aerodynamic and ultimately faster.
Stratasys, meanwhile, has been named an ‘Official 3D Printing Partner’ ofToyota Racing Development(TRD),丰田的in-house tuning division. In its new capacity, the firm is helping TRD develop end-use3D printed parts for the Toyota GR86, a sub-£30,000 production vehicle that’s set to be raced in the single-make GR Cup.
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Featured image shows the Ford GT LM Edition supercar. Image via Ford, Multimatic.
