New Consolidation Process Could Drop Titanium Cost

When you want to make something as strong and as light as possible, titanium is the way to go. The problem is that titanium purification is a highly expensive process. A new non-melt consolidation process developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory could reduce the cost of titanium parts from powders by up to half, allowing its use for a broad range of applications including brake rotors, artificial joints or even armored vehicles.

"We recently exhibited the new low-cost titanium alloy door made by ORNL for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, which is a next-generation combat vehicle. By using a titanium alloy for the door, BAE Systems was able to reduce the weight of its vehicle yet at the same time decrease the threat of armor-piercing rounds", said Bill Peter from ORNL's Materials Science and Technology Division.

Titanium can match the strength of steel, but it's 45 percent lighter. As compared to aluminum, titanium is about 60 percent heavier, but twice as strong. These properties make it ideal for armoring military vehicles. For example, its weight not only improves the operation of an armored door, but it also helps the vehicle maintain its mobility.

The new non-melt consolidation process involves roll compaction of titanium sheets made from powders, a press and sinter process to shape the components, and extrusion, giving it many advantages over the traditional melting process used today.

"Instead of using conventional melt processing to produce products from titanium powder, with the new method the powders remain in their solid form during the entire procedure. This saves a tremendous amount of energy required for processing, greatly reduces the amount of scrap and allows for new alloys and engineered composites", said Peter.

Powder metallurgy has been used for many years to produce components - however, the process could not have been applied to titanium until now because titanium powders are very expensive. The new process on the other hand, using low-cost titanium powders, allows ORNL, International Titanium Powders, Ametek and BAE Systems to develop new fabrication technologies for titanium parts.

In the near future, corrosion-resistant titanium could even find its way into the automobile industry where it would be used to reduce the weight of the vehicles and improve their fuel consumption efficiency.