THE NEW YORK TIMES BUSINESS FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2020 Y B7
The Belgian racing team Heli had an
engine problem. Specifically, under race
conditions, the manifold of the four-
cylinder turbo diesel in its BMW 1-
series exploded, bursting along an
ultrasonically welded seam that held
together the manifold’s two halves.
The team tried reinforcing the seam.
But when the car returned to the track,
during the middle of a race there was a
familiar bang, a loss of power and a pit
stop for a replacement manifold. This
did not enhance the team’s record.
To make a substitute manifold
through traditional methods, stamping
or casting, would be time-consuming
and expensive, requiring tooling, molds
and weeks to design and manufacture.
In 2018 Heli took the problem to
ZiggZagg, a Belgian company that
fabricates parts using an HP 3-D print-
er. ZiggZagg made a digital scan of the
two-piece manifold and after 10 hours
had a digital blueprint for a stronger,
lighter, one-piece manifold. In its first
race with the new manifold, printed
using what is known as PA 12 nylon, the
part held up and Heli took third. That
same manifold lasted until the car was
retired earlier this year.
The 3-D printing process has quietly
proved its worth in racing from For-
mula One to NASCAR. Teams are se-
cretive about their exact uses of the
technology, but they allow that 3-D
printing lets them make complex parts
that could not be made by other means.
That’s fine for small quantities of
exotic parts, but when it came to mass
production, stamping, casting or injec-
tion-molding have remained cheaper
and more practical. However, improve-
ments in 3-D technology now have it
poised to arrive on assembly lines
where everyday coupes, sedans and
hatchbacks are minted.
Volkswagen, one of the few automak-
ers to publicly proclaim its 3-D-printing
ambitions, is crash-testing body frame
parts it plans to put into its cars by
- “For Volkswagen the main stra-
tegic goal is to demonstrate the technol-
ogy is of major use in our real car pro-
duction,” said Martin Goede, head of
technology planning and development
for VW.
Additive manufacturing, which is the
industry’s umbrella term for different
types of 3-D printing, was envisioned in
the 1970s, the first printers arrived in
the 1980s, and by the 1990s laser “sin-
tering” was used to fuse powdered
metals. Now printers can construct
parts from a variety of materials such
as metals, polymers and ceramics.
The way most of the printers now
work is to fuse together powdered
material into thin slices that are
stacked together to form a shape, much
in the way a package of copier paper
with each sheet glued into place would
make a solid paper block.
Additive manufacturing allows fabri-
cators to build items that couldn’t be
built previously, like parts with hon-
eycomb-like reinforcement in hollow
spaces, allowing parts to be lighter,
stronger and stiffer.
The other thing it allows is the cre-
ation of new alloys. “When you try to
create superalloys, they don’t mix,” said
Brad Keselowski, who in addition to
owning Keselowski Advanced Manufac-
turing drives the No. 2 Ford Mustang
for Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup
series. “You melt them in a big pot, and
they separate like oil and water.”
But these powdered materials don’t
separate. “Powder is like salt and pep-
per. When you mix salt and pepper, it
stays mixed,” he said. “It’s allowing
new alloys that simply aren’t possible
in other kinds of manufacturing.”
All of this has been a boon to racing.
Teams can use computer-aided design
to construct digital blueprints of parts
that can be printed for use within days
rather than weeks, and without creat-
ing expensive tooling. The printed
parts can be tested on actual vehicles,
redesigned and retested, which is valu-
able because computer models that
predict how a part will perform in real
life are still just simulations. “I want to
build something, try it, and if I don’t
like it, make another one,” Mr. Ke-
selowski said.
The advantage that turnaround gives
racing teams can’t be overstated.
“We found some kind of new engi-
neering advantage, and we need to
build a part and get it on the racecar as
soon as possible. Every day that goes
by, we lose advantage,” he added.
Nowhere has this advantage been
used to greater effect than in F1 racing.
“Consider an F1 car as a prototype;
nothing is fixed,” said Paul Monaghan,
chief engineer for Red Bull’s F1 team.
Teams can now customize parts to
specific tracks and weather conditions
— for instance, dialing in a precise
amount of downforce for a rear wing.
The fraction of a second improvement it
may provide matters. “Two-tenths of a
second could be two slots on the start-
ing grid order,” Mr. Monaghan said.
“Ten laps in, you are two seconds clear.”
While printing specialized parts to
support a team of four cars is practical,
supplying 100,000 parts hasn’t been.
Additive manufacturing has been too
slow and the cost too high to be practi-
cal for mass production.
But companies like Volkswagen andDivergent Technologies say that is
poised to change.
Divergent makes the $1.7 million
Czinger 21C, which features a light-
weight printed aluminum chassis.
Though the company plans to produce
80 cars this year, the 21C is primarily a
demonstration of the founder Kevin
Czinger’s 3-D printing process, which
he claims is 10 to 20 times faster than
other printers. “That rate in the next
few years will double again,” he said.
Mr. Czinger said he sped up printing
partly by optimizing the process for a
limited number of aluminum alloys. He
said that Divergent had printed chassis
parts that are being crash-tested by two
top global car manufacturers, and will
print 1,000 suspensions this year foruse in a production car, which he de-
clined to name. He said his printers had
brought part costs below those for
traditional manufacturing. “If you
include the tooling or casting, you are
actually going to have better economics
now,” he said. “Otherwise, there is no
reason to do this.”
Volkswagen has planned to introduce
3-D printing gradually, starting with
customized trim parts and progressing
to chassis parts on production cars by
2023, ahead of an original estimate.
“There are breakthrough developments
in additive manufacturing,” Mr. Goede
said.
One such breakthrough is a change in
the printing process. Car parts have
usually been made by laser “sintering,”
which fuses layers of powder together.
But an older technology called binder
printing has been improved to produce
durable metal parts faster than laser
sintering can. Binder printers use glue
to join the metal layers together. The
completed part is then heated, burning
off the glue and fusing the metal. In
tests at VW, binder printing was fast
and durable enough for mass produc-
tion, Mr. Goede said.
Looking toward expected advances,VW estimates the speed of binder print-
ing to surpass sintering by 60 times in
the next two to five years. The com-
pany is crash-testing the vertical wind-
screen pillar known as the A-pillar for
the T-Roc convertible that may appear
on future models.
But it’s not game over for traditional
manufacturing. There are still chal-
lenges to additive manufacturing, like
ensuring quality control. For instance,
is a part reliable if there is a momen-
tary fluctuation in laser power? How
much of a fluctuation is OK? Standards
and test methods have to be developed,
which is difficult because 3-D printing
is rapidly evolving and it’s hard for test
methodology to keep up.
“As far as anyone can see, there will
still be a need for conventional manu-
facturing when it comes to parts like a
car hood,” said Tim Weber, HP’s global
3-D chief. “Creating a very large, very
thin and very smooth part will be diffi-
cult with additive manufacturing.”
Even VW’s ambitious plans concede
the need for conventional manufactur-
ing. “Our strategy is there will be no
complete elimination,” Mr. Goede said.
“There will be no entire 3-D body in the
future.”Need a New Carburetor? Hit Print
Auto racing teams increasingly rely on 3-D technology to make parts. Big carmakers may soon, too.
The Czinger 21C, made by Divergent Technologies, has a lightweight printed aluminum chassis. Divergent says its chassis parts are being crash-tested by two global car manufacturers.CZINGERA view of a Czinger chassis, left. The Jet Fusion 5200, right, is among the machines HP has developed for 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, as it is known in the automotive industry.CZINGER HPRoy Furchgott
WHEELS
‘I want to build
something, try it, and
if I don’t like it, make
another one.”
Brad Keselowski, a NASCAR driver
and owner of a manufacturing
company that uses 3-D technology.O: The Oprah Magazine has cov-
ered a wide swath of American
culture since it started 20 years
ago, but all of its 241 issues have
had one thing in common: Oprah
Winfrey, the publication’s founder
and editorial director, has been on
the cover.
That will change with the Sep-
tember issue, which will be avail-
able on newsstands Aug. 11. The
new cover, unveiled Thursday,
features a portrait of Breonna
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black wom-
an who was shot and killed by the
police in her home in Louisville,
Ky., in March.
Ms. Winfrey started an essay
for the issue with her name, writ-
ing:
“Breonna Taylor.
“She was just like me. She was
just like you.”
Ms. Winfrey ended the essay by
explaining why she had decided to
give up the cover spot of her
namesake magazine: “What I
know for sure: We can’t be silent.
We have to use whatever mega-
phone we have to cry for justice.
“And that is why Breonna Tay-
lor is on the cover of O magazine.”
Along with George Floyd, the
Black man who was killed by a
Minneapolis officer in May, Ms.
Taylor has been a central figure
for protesters who have taken to
the streets to demonstrate against
racism and police violence.
No criminal charges have been
filed against the three Louisville
Metro Police Department officers
who entered the home of Ms. Tay-
lor, an emergency medical techni-
cian, shortly after midnight on
March 13.
Last month, Brett Hankison,one of the three officers, was fired.
The police chief, Robert Schroe-
der, accused him of violating the
department’s policy on the use of
deadly force, saying he had “wan-tonly and blindly” fired 10 shots
into Ms. Taylor’s home. The other
two officers were reassigned.
Ms. Taylor was shot at least
eight times. She did not receive
medical attention for more than 20
minutes after she was struck, The
Courier Journal reported, citing
police logs. The officers involved
in the case have said they identi-
fied themselves when they en-
tered; Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend,
Kenneth Walker, who was
present, said the police did not
identify themselves.
The idea of putting Ms. Taylor
on the O cover was the brainchild
of Deirdre Read, the magazine’svisual research editor, said Lucy
Kaylin, the editor in chief of O, in
an email.
“I brought the idea to Oprah,
who immediately said ‘YES,’ ” Ms.
Kaylin said.
The cover image is a rendition
of a selfie by Ms. Taylor created by
the digital portrait artist Alexis
Franklin.
On Wednesday, O’s publisher,
Hearst Magazines, and Ms. Win-
frey announced that O would dis-
continue regular print editions
and become more digitally fo-
cused. “This is a natural progres-
sion for the brand,” Kristen
O’Hara, the Hearst Magazines
chief business officer, said in a
statement. The company added
that the December issue will be
O’s last regular monthly print edi-
tion.
Average paid circulation for Ohas fallen over the years, from a
high of 2.75 million shortly after its
founding, in 2001, to 2.28 million in
the second half of last year, ac-
cording to the Alliance for Audited
Media.
On June 5, what would have
been Ms. Taylor’s 27th birthday,
the hashtag #SayHerName was
widely shared in a social media
campaign that included the par-
ticipation of Senator Cory Booker,
Democrat of New Jersey, and Sen-
ator Kamala Harris, Democrat of
California.
Ms. Winfrey invoked Ms. Tay-
lor’s full name frequently in her
essay for the issue, writing, “Bre-
onna Taylor treated all her friends
like besties. Breonna Taylor was a
force in the life of her 20-year-old
sister. Breonna Taylor felt mean-
ing and purpose in her work as an
emergency room technician.”Winfrey Puts Kentucky E.M.T. Killed by Police on the Cover of O Magazine
By MARC TRACY Breonna Taylor is on the cover of
September’s O: The Oprah
Magazine. It is the first time that
Oprah Winfrey is not on the cover.AUTOMOBILES | MEDIABD