3D Printing

3D-printed titanium horseshoes could win by a nose

3D-printed titanium horseshoes could win by a nose
CSIRO printed a set of four bespoke racing horseshoes in a few hours
CSIRO printed a set of four bespoke racing horseshoes in a few hours
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CSIRO researcher, Chad Henry, presents the new race shoes to the horse
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CSIRO researcher, Chad Henry, presents the new race shoes to the horse
The titanium shoes were half the weight of aluminum horseshoes
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The titanium shoes were half the weight of aluminum horseshoes
The horseshoes were based on a digital scan of the horse's hooves
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The horseshoes were based on a digital scan of the horse's hooves
CSIRO printed a set of four bespoke racing horseshoes in a few hours
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CSIRO printed a set of four bespoke racing horseshoes in a few hours
View gallery - 4 images

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has created a set of bespoke titanium horseshoes for a Melbourne race horse using additive 3D printing. According to CSIRO, this is a first for horse racing and demonstrates the potential for the technology.

Horseshoes are traditionally made of iron or steel, but they’re often made from other materials for special purposes, such as rubber, plastic, magnesium, or copper. For racehorses, aluminum is preferred because its much lighter than steel, which is important in a sport where every ounce can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Unfortunately, aluminum doesn't wear as well as steel and is also isn’t as light as it could be, adding as much as a kilogram (2.2 lb) to a horse’s weight.

Titanium shoes are half the weight of aluminum and much stronger, but titanium is very difficult and expensive to work with. The CSIRO’s use of 3D printing changes that by making the shoes much faster and at lower cost.

CSIRO researcher, Chad Henry, presents the new race shoes to the horse
CSIRO researcher, Chad Henry, presents the new race shoes to the horse

The horse, dubbed “Titanium Prints” by the CSIRO team, had its hooves scanned with a handheld 3D scanner. The digital scan, which took only a few minutes was of fine enough detail to provide a perfect fit for each individual hoof. The data was passed to 3D modelling software and the bespoke shoes were designed.

The digital plan was then fed to an additive process 3D printer. In this, the machine spreads a fine layer of titanium powder and an electron beam fuses the powder into a cross section of the horseshoe. The machine then rakes more powder over the area and the beam fuses another layer. This continues until the horseshoe is complete. The excess powder is then removed and the shoe is polished and hardened.

“Any extra weight in the horseshoe will slow the horse down,” says horse trainer John Moloney, the horse’s trainer. "These titanium shoes could take up to half of the weight off a traditional aluminum shoe, which means a horse could travel at new speeds. Naturally, we’re very excited at the prospect of improved performance from these shoes.”

The horseshoes were based on a digital scan of the horse's hooves
The horseshoes were based on a digital scan of the horse's hooves

The process allows more than one item to be printed at a time, so all four shoes could be printed at once if the printing bed is large enough. In all, the manufacturing of the titanium set took only a few hours, which is cheaper and orders of magnitude faster than conventional methods of forming the difficult to work metal.

"3D printing a race horseshoe from titanium is a first for scientists and demonstrates the range of applications the technology can be used for," says John Barnes, Titanium Technologies Theme Leader, CSIRO Future Manufacturing Flagship. “There are so many ways we can use 3D titanium printing. At CSIRO we are helping companies create new applications like biomedical implants and even things like automotive and aerospace parts. The possibilities really are endless with this technology.”

The video below shows how CSIRO’s additive printing process works.

Source: CSIRO

Titanium additive manufacturing layer by layer

View gallery - 4 images
6 comments
6 comments
GiolliJoker
The article is a bit misleading... Titanium has higher density than aluminum, so saying "Titanium shoes are half the weight of aluminum and much stronger" might drive the reader into thinking that aluminum is denser (heavier). However the sentence itself can be true if the heavier shoes require much more material to compensate for the inferior mechanical properties. BTW, titanium can be hammer forged by skilled blacksmiths...
dandrews1138
Wow, if this method proves to create titanium products as strong as those made by traditional means, it would mean much greater accessibility and creativity to using titanium. A very exciting development.
And Joker, No blacksmith could create a horseshoe designed to fit as well as a computer with a scanned copy of the horse's exact fit, nor could he complete the work of 4 titanium horseshoes in a matter of hours.
Hugh Halford-Thompson
@ Giolli - also worth noting that the 3D printing process can create part hollow structures so the weight can be significantly reduced and the inside of the horseshoe can have a super light honeycomb structure or other.
Slowburn
Who would have thought horses and state of the art technology would come together in this day and age.
rocketride
@ Gioli Joker
To my knowledge, that is indeed the case.
BTW, The density of Titanium (ρ = 4.51) is closer to that of Aluminum (ρ = 2.70) than to that of Iron or steel (7.5 < ρ < 8.0), while it's hardness and strength are closer to steel.
PickleMan Pickles
This could be incredible for aerospace and formula one racing, but do these parts have the strength of machined Ti?