Making titanium cheaper

Titanium is extremely costly to produce and is often used where low weight and high strength are required and money is no object. A new manufacturing technique could reduce the expense, and make the material as useful for cars as it is for fighter jets.

The process of making solid titanium ingots involves the Kroll process - taking refined rutile or ilmenite from the original metal ore, then putting it through a high-temperature (1000°C) process involving chlorine gas, other volatile chlorides and liquid magnesium. The various steps and high energy requirements make the process expensive.

A new process developed by SRI International, however, uses plasma arcs to cut out some of the processes. The arcs provide the energy required to split the bonds in titanium chloride, which is derived from titanium ore. That interaction produces a titanium vapour that then quickly solidifies, forming titanium powder. The process uses less energy than the traditional technique, reports MIT Technology Review.

Another advantage of the new process is that while existing manufacturing techniques produce solid ingots of titanium that then need to be machined, milled or rolled, the titanium powder can be pressed into a shape that’s roughly comparable to the final product and then fused. Using high temperatures, the metal is then formed into a rough-cut shape that can then be finished with some additional machining - similar to the way titanium powder is currently used in laser-sintering 3D printers.

A cost-effective method for creating titanium powder could take the material from the exclusive to the (relatively) widespread. Currently used in high-grade aircraft componentry, like turbine blades, it could instead be used for larger, less critical components or perhaps even in cars with more realistic budgets in mind.

Source: Gizmodo Australia