Titanium powder

Titanium powder metallurgy (P/M) offers the possibility of creating net shape or near net shape parts without the material loss and cost associated with having to machine intricate components from wrought billet. Powders can be produced by the blended elemental technique or by pre-alloying and then consolidated by metal injection moulding, hot isostatic pressing, direct powder rolling or laser engineered net shaping. Titanium powder metallurgy (P/M) offers the possibility of creating net shape or near net shape parts without the material loss and cost associated with having to machine intricate components from wrought billet. Powders can be produced by the blended elemental technique or by pre-alloying and then consolidated by metal injection moulding, hot isostatic pressing, direct powder rolling or laser engineered net shaping. The traditional technique of titanium production is via the Kroll process which involves chlorination of TiO2 ore in the presence of carbon and reacting the resulting TiCl4 with magnesium to produce titanium sponge. These processes take place at temperatures as high as 1040 °C. The sponge particle range in size from 45 to 180 µm, with particles ~150 µm termed ‘sponge fines’. These fines are irregularly shaped and porous with a sponge-like morphology. The fines are then blended with alloy additions; cold compacted into a green compact at up to 415 MPa then vacuum sintered at 1260 °C to produce a 99.5% dense component. Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) can further increase the density of these parts and produce components more economically than cast or wrought parts, but the porosity present in the material degrades fatigue and fracture properties. The BE approach has been used to produce valves for the Toyota Altezza, golf club heads and softball bats. More recently, close to 100% dense Ti Grade 5 parts has been achieved using a hydrided powder along with 60:40 Al:V master alloy. The mechanical properties compare well with those exhibited by cast-and-wrought products. A cost estimate of less than $3.00 for a 0.320 g automotive connection link has been made.