German machine instruments producer EMAG is addressing European automotive sustainability laws with its ELC 450 LMD laser metallic deposition (LMD) know-how.
In November 2026, the European Union (EU) will introduce the Euro 7 emissions customary, setting stricter laws for all street autos throughout the continent. Notably, it’ll impose tighter controls on particle emissions from brake disc abrasions, requiring a 27% discount by the top of subsequent yr.
At present, most automobiles emit as much as 40 milligrams of particulate matter per kilometer, however below Euro 7, all new autos should meet a considerably decrease restrict of simply 7 milligrams. Consequently, automotive producers and suppliers require new strategies for creating extra eco-friendly brake disks.
EMAG goals to satisfy this want with the ELC 450 LMD, a laser metallic deposition system that applies a metallic coating to brake discs. This difficult coating enhances corrosion and put on resistance, extends the discs’ lifespan, and reduces their environmental impression. Brake disks coated utilizing LMD know-how additionally require much less upkeep, saving money and time for finish customers.
New EU laws crack down on automobile emissions
Brake discs are sometimes neglected in discussions about automobile pollution, which generally give attention to engine-produced CO₂. Nevertheless, issues about brake-related particles are rising because the EU intensifies efforts to cut back non-exhaust emissions.
In accordance with Italian 3D printer OEM Prima Additive, 21% of combustion vehicle-based particulate emissions come from the brake discs. That is generated when the brake is utilized. Friction between a automobile’s brake disk and brake pad causes supplies causes 10μm-scale supplies to be launched into the ambiance. Along with the 27% discount in brake disc emissions, the Euro 7 customary would require a 13% discount in general automotive polluting particulate output.
In accordance with EMAG, various proposals to enhance brake disk sustainability are flawed. For example, the corporate argued that putting extraction methods close to the brakes is a “problematic strategy.” EMAG claims that these methods solely take away a part of the dangerous emissions, whereas requiring automotive OEMs to utterly re-design their bodywork.
NAO (Non-Asbestos Natural) brake pads are additionally thought of insufficient as a result of they carry out effectively solely when new. In accordance with EMAG, these asbestos-free parts lose effectiveness and fail to satisfy the EU’s new emissions requirements after extended use.
The Salach, Baden-Württemberg-based laser know-how developer views brake disc coating because the optimum answer. Along with decrease emission charges, coated brakes supply longer service life, which means they’re changed much less typically. In flip, this reduces the environmental impression of manufacturing, transportation, and disposal.
3D printing sustainable brake disc coatings
Whereas onerous coatings of brake disks are nothing new, their adoption has beforehand been restricted by excessive manufacturing prices. Typical thermal spraying and electroplating strategies don’t create a metallurgical bond to the bottom materials, which means advanced post-processing is required to bond the coating.
EMAG claims its additive manufacturing-based LMD strategy represents a “quantum leap” for coating brake disks. The corporate calls its strategy economical and appropriate for large-scale manufacturing. It additionally highlights reliability and variability, as totally different materials mixtures can be utilized to coat brake disks.
Its modular, versatile, and configurable know-how is designed to satisfy high-volume automotive manufacturing calls for. For example, course of modules will be mixed and expanded to satisfy buyer necessities.
What’s extra, the ELC 450 LMD is accessible in a spread of configurations tailor-made to manufacturing scale. The essential mannequin incorporates a single course of module, whereas the ELC 450 DUO LMD options two modules, and the ELC 450 TRIO LMD boasts three. In accordance with EMAG, this modular strategy permits the corporate to satisfy wide-ranging buyer necessities by accommodating totally different shift buildings and productiveness ranges.
Launched in 2021, ELC 450 LMD is claimed to supply notable benefits over different disk coating approaches. In a weblog put up, Dr. Andreas Mootz, managing director of EMAG’s LaserTec subsidiary, claimed that standard excessive velocity oxygen gas spraying (HVOF) strategies are wasteful. This course of fires the metallic coating onto the brake disks at excessive speeds, leading to excessive materials losses. Then again, EMAG’s LMD strategy, which welds the metallic materials immediately onto the brake disk, is just about waste-free.
Additive manufacturing enhances automotive sustainability
Because the EU’s new automotive regulation deadlines strategy, EMAG isn’t the one firm coating brake discs with additive manufacturing. Final yr, Prima Additive collaborated with automation and robotics agency Comau to develop a high-speed coating system for Dutch automaker Stellantis.
The companions developed new Speedy Coating Course of cells that mix superior laser methods, robotic arms, powder administration, and directed vitality deposition (DED) 3D printing. In accordance with Prima, these methods can shortly cowl a metallic brake disk with a skinny layer of resilient materials. This will increase its resistance to put on, decreasing brake disk degradation-related air pollution emissions by 80%.
Paolo Calefati, Prima Additive’s CEO, referred to as the corporate’s laser-based strategy, “probably the most worthwhile and sustainable instances of laser additive manufacturing/laser cladding know-how utilized in mass manufacturing for automotive.”
Different areas of automotive manufacturing have additionally adopted 3D printing to unlock extra eco-friendly manufacturing. Final yr, GM Ventures, the enterprise capital arm of the US automotive agency Common Motors, invested $10 million into Forge Nano, a supplies firm specializing in atomic layer deposition (ALD). By means of a strategic partnership, the 2 companies are creating superior battery supplies to enhance the efficiency and decrease the price of electrical automobile (EV) batteries.
Elsewhere, British automotive producer McLaren launched a brand new hypercar with 3D printed titanium suspension parts. McLaren’s new hybrid automobile, referred to as the W1, options 3D printed entrance suspension uprights and wishbones which unlock substantial weight financial savings. The launch adopted McLaren’s determination to signal a multi-year collaboration with Divergent Applied sciences to make the most of its Divergent Adaptive Manufacturing System (DAPS) 3D printing know-how. This partnership goals to reinforce manufacturing effectivity and create a extra sustainable automotive provide chain.
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Featured picture reveals a brake disk coated utilizing EMAG’s LMD know-how. Picture through EMAG.
