Printing a Shock
Although this shock absorber is just a demonstration device, its fabrication is rather clever as the materials company that made it, Covestro, used three different materials and three different 3D fabrication processes to make it: First, there’s the outer spring of the 40 x 7-cm part.
Although this shock absorber is just a demonstration device, its fabrication is rather clever as the materials company that made it, Covestro, used three different materials and three different 3D fabrication processes to make it:
![]()
First, there’s the outer spring of the 40 x 7-cm part. It was produced with powered thermoplastic polyurethane via the selective laser sintering process.
Then there’s the adjusting screw that, when the shock is assembled, is on the interior of the assembly. In order to perform well it needs to have both strength and hardness. Consequently, it is produced with a polycarbonate. The fused filament fabrication process was used.
Finally, there is the air chamber. It, too, is in the interior of the shock absorber. It was made with a liquid polyurethane resin with a digital light processing method.
According to Lukas Breuers, a marketing manager for 2D and 3D printing at Covestro, “This complex structure would not have been possible with conventional production processes.”
![]()
RELATED CONTENT
-
Global Supply of Automotive Fasteners from a Single Source
PennEngineering offers a global supply for a wide range of fasteners for the automotive industry, including China-based facilities that manufacture standard and custom products to world-class standards of quality at lower cost.
-
TRW Multi-Axis Acceleration Sensors Developed
Admittedly, this appears to be nothing more than a plastic molded part with an inserted bolt-shaped metal component.
-
On Fuel Cells, Battery Enclosures, and Lucid Air
A skateboard for fuel cells, building a better battery enclosure, what ADAS does, a big engine for boats, the curious case of lean production, what drivers think, and why Lucid is remarkable