HRE unveils updated 3D-printed titanium wheels

HRE on Tuesday unveiled the second-generation HRE3D+ set of wheels.     

While the design is more or less the same, it's the underlying processes that have been improved, resulting in wheels that are somehow lighter while also cutting down on the amount of waste material generated during the printing process.

Like its first set, HRE relied on the help of GE Additive, which developed the Direct Metal Laser Melting 3D printing process.     

The process uses lasers to melt titanium powder in ever-growing layers.    

But it also uses a second process, Electron Beam Melting, which utilizes a beam of electrons in a vacuum to heat and join raw metals.    

HRE says that it's reduced material waste from 80% of the raw material's weight to just 5%.    

At the same time, whereas the first-gen wheels weighed 20 and 23 pounds in respective 20- and 21-inch sizes, those same wheels now weigh just 16 and 19 pounds, respectively.     

HRE's wheels are merely concepts for now, as the process to make the a set of HRE3D+ is likely prohibitively expensive.    

For now, you can see these wheels in person at the RAPID + TCT additive-manufacturing trade show in Detroit from May 21 to 23.

Keep scrolling to check out even more pictures of HRE's wild titanium wheels.