HRL Laboratories’ 7A77 aluminum authorized for use in Formula One
Following the recent news of Constellium's Aheadd CP1 aluminum authorization
HRL Laboratories, a research center in Malibu, California, currently owned by General Motors Corporation and Boeing, has announced that its 7A77 aluminum alloy and feedstock powder, designed specifically for additive manufacturing, has been officially authorized for the use in the production of parts for Formula One racing cars.
This news follows the recent authorization of Constellium’s Aheadd CP1 high-performance aluminum additive manufacturing powder – which was qualified by Velo3D and PWR for the Sapphire series of 3D printers – for use in the production of Formula One racing cars.
Formula One is the highest class of international auto racing for open-wheel, single-seat race cars, and is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the body that decides on approved materials. According to HRL, the ‘formula’ in the name does not refer to a mixture of substances, but rather to the set of rules that dictate the parameters to which all F1 cars must conform. It is this rigorous list to which HRL 7A77 has been added.
“Formula One racing is known for always pushing the limits of what is possible and additive manufacturing gives them a mechanism to do that by designing fully optimized structures. Now they can use our 7A77 alloy with a yield strength of 530 MPa, the highest strength of any additive aluminum alloy,” said Toby Schaedler, Department Manager at HRL.
HRL Laboratories’ new class of 3D printable high-strength aluminum alloys was based on historically high-strength and low-cost wrought alloy systems such as Al-7075. HRL is also currently working on designing additional alloys for 3D printing.
