Thanks to the advancement of technology these days, the art of 3D-printing is now becoming more common than ever. People can easily design and manufacturer some of the things that simply appeal to them. Furthermore, it is also already in use by multiple industries, including the automotive industry. Despite that however, there are still a lot of limitations with 3D-printing. For example, no one has yet to 3D-print a fully working engine, turbo or brake.

Until now, that is. 

Bugatti recently announced that they have developed the world's first 3D-printed brake caliper. And they made it out of titanium.

It was built in partnership with Laser Zentrum Nord. The titanium brake caliper was created by using a quartet of 400-watt lasers, which used 2213 layers of titanium powder to create one caliper. Following completion of printing, the calipers are then heat treated in order to eliminate residual strenght and improve stability. Each caliper takes approximately 45 hours to 3D-print.

The new in-house brake caliper measures 41cm long, 21 cm wide and 13.6 cm high, and could be installed in the Chiron as a future upgrade. What is surprising is that it only weighs 2.9kg, compared to aluminum alloy calipers used on the Chiron, which weighs 5kg, almost 40-percent lighter. More importantly, the new titanium printed calipers have a higher tensile strength, allowing more force to be applied.

It is still uncertain when the 3D-printed titanium caliper will be offered on the Chiron. However, Bugatti says they do expect a reduction in time to produce the brake caliper as testing has already begun.