Ultima Forma

AUTOMOTIVE

Performance parts for next gen of lightweight vehicles​
We specialise in enhancing thermal, structural and electrical performance through integrated engineering solutions for the next generation of vehicles.
We are helping the automotive industry reduce emissions and cost, for example by designing and manufacturing parts which are lighter than conventional materials and manufacturing technologies.

Whether you are looking to reduce weight, improve heat management, strength or stiffness, we can grow advanced engineered parts to fit into your systems. Our parts have extremely low residual stress so we can achieve high tolerances and make manufacturing assembly easier. If you are looking for a range of mechanical or other multi-functionality across a part, our process enables functionally graded materials. Some example applications are given below:

• High strength, high stiffness tubular structures are possible with complex forms and no joins. These could incorporate heat exchangers if required.

• High strength thin (micro scale) parts either self supporting or as skins onto other materials to provide additional functionality.

• Lightweight cores made from a range of polymer or composite materials can be incorporated, or later removed to provide parts with high specific stiffness, which can grow onto fixings incorporated within the structure to create assemblies.

• High strength metal skins can be used on parts which are exposed to stone impacts, enhancing damage tolerance as well as providing a range of coatings to protect parts from salt water spray, acids or bacteria.

• For high pressure pipework, our process deposits material at the atomic scale incorporating fittings as full metal to metal bonds, so we can achieve excellent hermetic seals with minimal material.

• For electric vehicles our materials have thermal and electrical conductivity advantages, with forming technology that allow multi functional designs. These attributes can enhance electric vehicle powertrains in a range of ways.
We don’t select a material off the shelf, instead we design the material with properties to suit the function and your needs. With knowledge of materials science, physics, chemistry and engineering, you’ll be surprised how we can either improve on your current designs or reimagine future solutions based on our manufacturing process.

We are innovating not just in part manufacture but also in our tooling processes, where we are developing a cost effective process from CAD to final part, particularly for low volume (10s-100s) applications.
Contact us to share your challenges so we can assess how we might design and build parts which surpass your performance expectations.

© Ultima Forma 2022