Ford's Partners With HP For 3D Printing Sustainable Car Parts' Prime Materials?

Ford, the US manufacturer found a cheaper way to build its sustainable car parts with the 3D printing technique. It's a method that implies less water and less energy spent, but about the safety? It's known that 70s, when 3D printing was revealed to the world, patenting it for the market, took a whole decade while developing the "additive manufacturing" started using different materials to print intricate parts.

These days, this technique is common in all fields, and applying it to the car industry was just a matter of time.  Now it isn't uncommon that special additive manufacturing (AM) to build big parts of a car. The last example is the 1016 Industries company that built McLaren's 3D printed parts features in the inner bumper structures, aerodynamic ducting, and linkage in the wing kit.  As usual, 3D printing still has wastes and Ford decided to use them, to build other important for their cars.

Usually, Ford is using AM for 3D printing parts for their ventilators, but they want to partner with the popular laptop brand, HP to use their recycled materials to make recycled materials for their vehicle parts. This is a simple and clever way to vouch for sustainability and earth-friendly products. Both companies want to build through the joint, injection molded parts that are durable and offer quality for their customers. A simple clever way to persuade your clients into protecting the environment. 

The current project benefiting from the partnership is the Ford F-250 Super Duty. This model will have its fuel line clips made out of HP's waste materials. Ford claims that these parts have improved chemical and moisture resistance, by 7% lighter weight, and the cost is surprisingly lower by 10%. The American company stated that they identified 10 other clips that could be as beneficial for the automaker, customers, and environment.

The waste Ford takes from  HP is the waste powder that usually goes to landfill and transforms it into functional, ecological, and durable auto parts. You might ask yourself about its safety, but according to Debbie Mielewski, Ford technical fellow at Sustainability, "many companies are finding great uses for 3D printing technologies" so, the safety is ensured by many studies and tests. Here comes another question - how the used waste materials influence the final price of their cars since we only got the price for the company's economical percentages?