Titanium Alloy 3D Printing

The United States has been researching very early in the preparation of titanium alloy products by pressing and sintering titanium powder. Dynamet Technology has been committed to the production of titanium powder press-formed products. As shown in Figure 1, some products have been used on a small scale. The first powder metallurgy titanium product produced by the company was the Ti-6Al-4V alloy preform for the dome casing on Raytheon's Sidewinder missile. It later also produced powder metallurgy Ti-6Al-6V-2Sn alloy products for the Stinger. Missile warhead casing. Due to its significant contribution to titanium products, Dynamet Technology has become Boeing's sole supplier of powdered titanium alloy products. In addition, the American ADMA Products company has been producing powder metallurgy titanium parts since 1985, and some of its products are used in the aerospace field. my country's Northwest Nonferrous Metals Research Institute has more than 30 years of experience in research and development in the field of near-net shape titanium powder. The porous titanium products developed have been used in chemical industry, food and other fields. Figure 1(b) shows the results used in the filtration industry. Powder rolled porous titanium plate.

The hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process was invented by the Battelle Research Institute in the United States in the 1950s. This technology uses inert gas as the pressure transmission medium at a temperature of 850-2000°C and a temperature of 100-200 Under the synergistic effect of MPa air pressure, the technology of high-temperature pressing and sintering of products is currently the most important means to fully densify powder near-net shape titanium and titanium alloy structural parts. The products have a uniform structure, no texture, no segregation, etc. Features.

The development of titanium alloy powder hot isostatic pressing technology abroad began in the 1850s. The Russian Light Metal Research Institute was the first in the world to develop a powder titanium alloy hydrogen pump turbine with an overall complex shape as early as the 1970s, and developed it in RD- It has been applied in the 0120 hydrogen-oxygen engine; the United States first realized commercial application in the aerospace field in the 1990s, and gradually expanded to the aviation and weapons fields, such as the connecting rod of PW's F110 engine, the Tomahawk cruise missile F107 Engine compressor rotors, Sidewind missile hoods, F107 cruise missile engine impellers, and Stinger anti-aircraft missile warhead casings, etc.

Metal Injection Molding (MIM) technology can directly produce parts with or close to the final shape, avoiding or reducing machining, and significantly reducing preparation costs. Therefore, powder injection molding technology is one of the most effective technical means for batch preparation of titanium and titanium alloy application parts. 3C products in electronic communications (including mobile phones, smart wearables, eyeglass frames, and 5G signal components) are the main application areas of powder injection molding technology, accounting for 84.2%. At this stage, iron-based materials are mainly used, and the lightweight design and high-quality pursuit of materials are the main directions for the future development of 3C products. Titanium alloys have the characteristics of low density (the density is only half that of iron-based materials), high strength, and corrosion resistance, which can meet the lightweight and high-quality design of future materials. According to statistics, the market size of China's titanium injection molding industry reached 680 million yuan in 2020. Based on demand-side investment and supply-side revenue growth, the market size is expected to reach 2 billion yuan in 2026, with an annual growth rate of 20.13%.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a forming technology that accumulates points, lines and surfaces layer by layer. It is not affected by the complexity of the parts and can automatically, quickly and accurately complete the design and manufacturing of complex parts. Compared with traditional manufacturing technology, additive manufacturing has unique advantages in design freedom, complex part molding, and material utilization, making it a promising titanium alloy manufacturing technology. According to SmarTech analysis reports, the global metal 3D printing market reached US$3.3 billion in 2019, including 3D printing equipment, materials and services, and is expected to reach US$11 billion in 2024. Titanium alloy is the most important printing metal. Aerospace and military defense are the largest users of titanium additive manufacturing. It has been successfully used for the direct forming of small precision components of aerospace engines and large complex aviation components, such as space launch systems, aircraft wings, integral control surfaces and doors. , engine blades and other key aerospace equipment components.