News: Materialise help to realise Jaguar's C-X75 concept car

Specialists from Materialise UK in Rotherham have worked with Jaguar Land Rover engineers to provide solutions for the unique design challenges associated with the company's revolutionary C-X75 concept car.

Based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham, Materialise UK, has the largest capacity of rapid prototyping equipment in Europe. Their alternative production techniques matched the designer's desire to use organic shapes in the car's interior cabin.

After collaborating with the Jaguar Land Rover teams to gain a full understanding of the component requirements in relation to the rest of the car, the Materialise engineers used their expertise in rapid prototyping processes to develop ideal solutions.

Due to the client requirements, the majority of the parts were produced in ABS plastic using the Materialise suite of Fused Deposition Modelling machines (FDM), which enabled the components to be constructed directly from the supplied 3D computer data. Materialise used its engineering experience and dedicated software to add the required internal strengthening ribs and structures to provide the components with integral strength and durability.

Other components not requiring such a high degree of functionality were produced by stereolithography on Materialise's patented "Mammoth" machines, allowing large components to be manufactured in single pieces. This offered a big advantage as large components of this type traditionally need to be cut and glued, thus compromising on strength and finish.

A further benefit of the techniques recommended by Materialise was the relative speed of the processes, which typically takes around 50% less time than conventional methods. This allowed the Jaguar Land Rover engineers additional time to refine their CAD designs.

Johnathan Andrews, Account Manager of Materialise UK said: "We were delighted to work alongside the Jaguar Land Rover teams to contribute to the next generation of concept vehicles. I hope that the automotive industry sits up and takes note of the forward thinking technologies that the Jaguar Land Rover engineers applied to this car.

"By utilising additive manufacturing technologies they have set the bar to a new level for concept design by being able to create organic forms and have a freedom of creation that was previously limited."

Project C-X75 was conceived to celebrate 75 years of Jaguar and the British marque recently announced that it will go in to production. The C-X75 is a state-of-the-art supercar that will be one of the fastest, low-emission vehicles in the world.

Ian Callum, design director at Jaguar said: "This will be one of the finest looking Jaguar's ever produced. We have to make changes to bring this car to the market, but I know it will retain all the visual impact of the original concept car."

Materialise website
Jaguar website

Images: jaguar.com