可以下载和打印的自行车车架

新华网2月11日电 据科技博客Gizmodo文章，上图这个奇怪的东西你能猜到是什么吗？它当然不是来自外太空的怪物，而是一个可以3D打印的自行车车架。

这套自行车车架是英国品牌雷尼绍的新产品，下图是它组装完成的样子。新产品以该公司原有产品Empire系列的MX-6山地自行车为样本，以钛为原材料在900多兆帕的极限抗拉强下3D打印完成。

该设计通过拓扑优化完成，这听起来可能有些复杂，但实际上是说，用一个软件包来巧妙地配置材料。雷尼绍方面解释道：“把多余的材料从承压小的部位移走，直到实现最优化的承压分布设计。换句话说，移走多余的材料可以在固有设计下制造出最轻的车架。”

现在，新产品尚未面市，斯旺西大学正在对其性能进行进一步的测试。假如能够顺利通过测试，消费者可能无需通过商店购买，只需要下载和打印就可以了。

百度新闻与新华网国际频道合作稿件，转载请注明出处。

It may look like an alien desk tidy, but you're actually looking at a bicycle frame hot off the 3D printer.

The frame—shown below in its fully assembled form—is the brainchild of Renishaw, which makes metal 3D printers, and Empire Cycles. Based on Empire's MX-6 mountain bike, it's printed in titanium alloy which winds up with an Ultimate Tensile Strength of more than 900 MPa.

The design was honed using topological optimization. That may sound complex, but in reality it means using a software package to smartly distribute material: "Material is removed from areas of low stress until a design optimized for load bearing is evolved," explains Renishaw. In other words, it takes away redundant material to create the lightest possible frame for a given set of design constraints.

The bike isn't on sale yet, but it is undergoing further testing by Swansea University—in the workshop and on the mountainside—using strain gauges to measure the frame's performance. Eventually, though, you might just be able to download the thing and hit the trails—no bike shops required.

(原标题：可以下载和打印的自行车车架)