A 3D printed metal structural node. (credit: Divergent 3D)

Last week we took a look at how Lamborghini is using forged composite carbon fiber in car production. But forged composites aren’t the only game in town when it comes to cutting edge materials. Divergent 3D has been working on additive manufacturing—3D printing to you and me—car parts. In recent weeks, the company signed a partnership with PSA Group (Peugeot and Citroën). Today, Divergent 3D formed a partnership with engineering firm Altran. The company is now working on developing the technology to allow OEMs to manufacture components—in volume—with much lower capital costs and energy use than the conventional method.

Currently, car components are made in much the same way they have been for decades. Metal parts are stamped out by gigantic presses that are both horrifically expensive and energy intensive. Divergent 3D’s founder and CEO, Kevin Czinger, found this out first hand when he co-founded an earlier company that built electric vehicles. He told Ars:

I learned that what slows down advances in the auto industry is hard-metal tooling and stamping. You need hundreds of millions of dollars up front for hardware design and construction, which needs to be amortized, and changes to that hardware become prohibitively expensive.

3D-printed metal nodes and laser-cut carbon fiber tubes are used to rapidly assemble a prototype lightweight chassis frame. (credit: Divergent 3D)

Divergent 3D’s technology uses direct-metal laser sintering. Layers of aluminum alloy powder are built up to create the necessary parts or to build molds for non-metallic components. And because complex shapes can be created easily, parts that until now have been made of several pieces that have to be welded together can be created as single pieces.