Titomic Limited, the industrial scale additive manufacturing company based in Melbourne, Australia, has signed a $2.6 million deal to establish aerospace standards for its Titomic Kinetic Fusion technology.
For this two-year project, called the Additively Manufactured Titanium Complex Structures Project, Titomic is partnering with Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC), CSIRO and RMIT University.
Both Titomic and IMCRC will provide $470,000 in cash each. The project will advance Titomic’s novel titanium additive manufacturing process, known as Titomic Kinetic Fusion. Instead of melting the titanium — a common process in metal additive manufacturing — Titomic Kinetic Fusion mechanically fuses a titanium powder feedstock.
Over the course of the project, this process will be brought up to standards established by the Unites States’ U.S. FAA, DoD and NASA in their Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization (MMPDS) handbook.
“The aerospace and defence industries are seeking new additive manufacturing capabilities for industrial-scale titanium alloy structures to improve upon time consuming, wasteful traditional subtractive manufacturing processes… Titomic, as the global leader of industrial scale metal additive manufacturing, will utilise this IMCRC Project to develop Australian export capability for the supply of TKF systems and consumables to meet the demand of the aerospace and defence industries,” said Jeff Lang, Titomic Managing Director and project Industry Leader.
Challenges the $2.6 Million Deal will Overcome
To this point, Titomic’s titanium printing method has not met such standards due to issues caused by layering inclusions, alloy evaporation and thermal distortion. Such problems can cause 3D printed parts to be compromised.
By improving the Titomic Kinetic Fusion process to iron out such defend-inducing flaws, it is hoped that the technology will start ot see use in the production of aerospace structures and replacement parts.
Ultimately, the aim for doing this is to increase Titomic’s position in the metal AM market. As a result, Titomic believes it will bring in additional commercial opportunities. Furthermore, such a development could lead to Australia increasing its position in the metals and technology industries.
David Chuter, CEO and Managing Director of the IMCRC, said: “With metal additive manufacturing on the cusp of large scale industrialisation, this research project explores Titanium and its enhanced performance properties as an alternative for sustainable manufacturing across multiple industry sectors… When proven, this new technology not transforms additive manufacturing processes but provides Australia the opportunity to capitalise on the global demand for Titanium utilising our significant reserves of Titanium ore.”
Source: 3DPMN
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