When the students of Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India approached us at Altem technologies for 3D Printing some complex manifold parts with durable plastic material as they were Competing in Formula SAE Autocross Racer Design Contest, there was lot of ambiguity in their own designs as they could not iterate and optimise the designs. This was a serious handicap and they had also encountered some issues in the design of the manifold as it had cracked because of a back fire from the engine.
Considering the challenging situation and with a very limited time line, Application Engineers at Altem Technologies Bangalore, India chipped in with the idea of using parts printed of Ultem 9085 material with Stratasys FDM Technology based 3D Printer ,Fortus 400mc. The Intake manifold , the upper and lower plenums and runners were 3D printed using the durable Ultem 9085 material which could with stand the emissions and demanding temperatures upto 170 Deg C . To further enhance the performance, a coating of Epoxy was applied to the inner surface and then mounted on the engine.
As expected, the 3D printed intake manifold with Ultem 9085 material, was able to withstand pressures upto 60 Kpa at an intake temperature of 41.4 Deg C, which is 15 Deg more than the required range. The data recorded at the oil sensor switch was also satisfactory with enough suction and delivery of 95 psi to the head as well.
The students and the faculty were satisfied with the results of the 3D printed parts from Altem / Stratasys and expressed their gratitude for the timely support offered to their Formula SAE Student Competition project.
Publication Date : January, 2013
