Bright Laser Technologies
Titanium alloy frame
Titan Super Bond, a manufacturer of titanium bicycle components, has employed Bright Laser Technologies' (BLT) metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology to successfully produce what is thought to be China’s first fully 3D Printed titanium alloy bicycle frame.
The Xi’an-based manufacturer installed two laser powder bed fusion metal 3D printers from BLT in 2022 in an effort to simplify and reduce its production time, and introduce an alternative approach to traditional welding for its various bicycle products. Titan Super Bond now employs a "encircling and supporting" approach to frame welding which avoids areas with concentrated heat effects in favour of circumferential lap welding in standard and open pipe sections. This technique is said to greatly reduce the technical difficulty of manual argon arc welding and provides possibilities for future robotic automated welding.
Titan Super Bond is using a pair of BLT-A320 machines to produce lightweight, high-strength, titanium alloy bicycle handlebars and head tubes, which are corrosion resistant and offer an extended product lifespan compared to conventional titanium alloy bicycles. The lightweight design effectively reduces the weight of bicycle dropouts and YOKE, thereby reducing the overall vehicle weight. The high-strength titanium alloy frame is said to facilitate efficient power transfer, enhance manoeuvrability, while providing exceptional elasticity, surpassing steel by 30%, and offering exceptional shock absorption capabilities. The company said its titanium alloy bicycles essentially provide ‘permanent damage-free usage.’
Due to its lightweighting and part consolidation abilities, 3D printing is a fairly well established tool for bicycle production. TCT recently spoke with Formlabs about how Hunt Bike Wheels and Privateer Bikes are using its polymer technology for prototyping bike components, while in metals, Renishaw has an ongoing partnership with British Cycling which will see its technology used on the track at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In a press release, BLT, a China-based manufacturer of metal AM systems, estimates that 3D printing can offer a 30% reduction in production cycles and over 20% savings in production materials.
BLT explains that controlling deformation is the biggest challenge during the printing process, particularly for complex-shaped parts with a wall thickness of only 0.9mm. Working with Titan Super Bond, the two have developed a production process that optimises part design, part support, and lattice control. Both companies have also collaborated on overcoming difficulties in polishing for varying layer thicknesses, stability testing for fully nested printing, and assessment of surface roughness for assembly, to ensure the frames are ready for mass production and even customisation. The finished parts have successfully passed the international standard ISO 4210 dynamic fatigue strength test.
Last year, BLT spoke to TCT about its ambitions to bring its metal 3D printing technology to the masses. Since then, the company has showcased titanium applications from it's newly introduced 26-laser, large-format BLT-S1500 system including an intermediate compressor case for an aerospace engine, and the pivotal role its two-laser BLT-A160D 3D printer has played in the development of the world’s first flexible robotic system for brain surgery.
