TITAN New materials set to shine

For motorsports systems supplier Titan, the future is expected to be an escalation of current trends for more complex part designs created by an abundance of cheaper simulation tools, coupled with a growing confidence in 3D printing technologies.

So says chief designer Graham Norden. “We’re aware that the cost of simulation is dropping dramatically and that’s leading to better optimised solutions appearing on CAD screens and leading to a higherperformance part produced as the end product. Generally this means parts are more complicated in design and so, from a manufacturing point of view, give us more challenges.

“I think where there might be disruptive change is when designers come up with parts that cannot be made with traditional methods. We’re seeing the beginnings of additive manufacturing techniques being used for production parts. In the last few years this has gone from a method to create semi-structural parts for prototyping, to something suitable for testing or perhaps qualifying. Today there are materials that, from an additive manufacturing point of view, are capable of producing strong production performance components, perhaps equivalent to what you would get from a cast part. This opens up a generation of design that moves beyond the limits created by an old school machining process.”