Preparation of Titanium Alloy Parts by Powder Compact Extrusion of a Powder Mixture and Scaled up Manufacture

Blended Elemental Powder Metallurgy (BE-PM) is a very attractive method for producing titanium alloys, which can be near-net shape formed with compositional freedom. However, a minimization of oxygen pick-up during processing into manufactured parts is a big challenge for powder metallurgy of titanium alloys. In this paper, different approaches for preparing titanium alloy parts by powder compact extrusion with 0.05-0.1wt.% of oxygen pick-up during manufacturing are discussed. The starting materials were a powder mixture of HDH titanium powder, other elemental powders and a master alloy powder. Different titanium alloys and composites, such as Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-4Al-4Sn-4Mo-0.5Si, Ti-5Al-5V-5Mo-3Cr, and Ti-5Al-5V-5Mo-3Cr-5vol%TiB, with different profiles such as round and rectangular bars, a wedge profile, wire and tubes have been successfully manufactured on a laboratory and pilot-plant scale. Furthermore, a possible route for scaling up the titanium processing capabilities in the University of Waikato has also been discussed.