A collaborative UK research project led by GKN
Aerospace aims to create cheaper high-quality titanium feedstock for
additive manufacturing.
3Dprint.com and others report that the project involves
creating titanium powder with properties suitable for net shape component
manufacture (or TiPOW).
The Aerospace Technology Institute will contribute 1.5
million pounds to the project.
“To date research into AM has focused largely on evolving
the processes we will require to enter full scale production but if these
processes are, to make a significant breakthrough, the quality, repeatability
and cost of the material we use will be critical,” The Star reports ATI senior vice president of engineering and
technology, Ross Dunn, as saying.
“We will begin the process of addressing this issue with
our industrial partners.”
Partners include the UK companies Phoenix Scientific Industries, titanium
processing specialists Metalysis and the University of Leeds.
The entire, three-year project is budgeted at 3.1
million pounds.
Most of the world’s titanium is processed using the Kroll process, which is expensive, energy-intensive, and over eight decades old.
Image: Metalysis