Take a look at how HRE made its 3D-printed titanium wheels

HRE Wheels announced this week that it teamed up with GE Additive to create the HRE3D+ concept wheel.     

This wild design, which has spokes going through other spokes, was created using 3D-printed titanium.   

This allowed the wheel company to create a design that wouldn't be possible through traditional manufacturing methods, like CNC machining, alone.

The wheel was created from titanium powder and a type of 3D printing called electron beam melting.     

An electron beam generates heat, which is used to form the powder into metal structures in a vacuum.     

Titanium likes to react with oxygen, so the vacuum bit is especially important.    

This technology can make more than wheels -- it's being investigated for use in both medical-implant and aerospace manufacturing.    

HRE and GE Additive created the wheel in five distinct sections comprising the face of the wheel.     

Those five pieces were combined with a custom center section, all of which was eventually bolted to a carbon-fiber wheel rim using titanium fasteners.     

Keep scrolling to check out even more pictures of HRE's process, in addition to pictures of the final result.