The development of the additive manufacturing industry has attracted a series of companies to enter the metal powder supply market. Out of the favor of titanium alloys and superalloys in the aerospace industry and medical fields, titanium alloys and superalloys have gradually proven to be the leading materials in the rapidly growing additive manufacturing industry. Additive manufacturing requires that titanium alloy and high-temperature alloy powders have a unique shape and size with high purity to meet the requirements of stable and high-quality component production.
In recent years, with the rapid development of the aerospace industry, especially the development of aero engines and hypersonic vehicles, the demand for titanium alloy materials has also increased dramatically. To further reduce weight and increase the thrust-to-weight ratio of aircraft, titanium alloys are increasingly used in aircraft engine compressor wheels, blades, integral blade disks, casings, and rotors, as well as missile rudder wing skeletons, cabins, and engine inlets—manufacturing of airway and other parts. The continuous improvement of the performance of aerospace vehicles has put forward higher requirements for the use temperature of titanium alloys, and the development of high-temperature titanium alloys is imminent.
A Canadian company will use patented plasma milling technology to produce high-sphericity titanium alloy powder to provide additive manufacturing powder for the aerospace industry and medical device manufacturers. The company also plans to use the plasma milling process to produce special powders for metal additive manufacturing. The characteristic of the plasma milling process is that it can create a spherical metal powder with strong controllability of particle size distribution, high fluidity, and high purity, which closely follows the characteristics of additive manufacturing. The company will also develop a next-generation plasma milling system that produces a variety of additive manufacturing metal and composite powders.
TA32 titanium alloy, whose nominal composition is Ti-5.5Al-3.5Sn-3Zr-1Mo-0.5Nb-0.7Ta-0.3Si, is a new type of near-alpha titanium alloy newly developed. The material is still under a high temperature of 550 ℃ With good creep and long-lasting properties; it is expected to replace some steel or nickel-based superalloy materials. The short-term service temperature can reach 600 ℃, and it has excellent comprehensive mechanical properties such as tensile, fatigue, and creep.
△ Cold Crucible Vacuum Induction Melting Gas Atomization Pulverizing Process VIGA-CC
Development of Additive Manufacturing TA32 Titanium Alloy Powder
This technology uses water-cooled copper crucible vacuum induction smelting gas atomization powdering technology to complete the development of TA32 titanium alloy powder. The principle is to use electromagnetic induction heating to realize the smelting of titanium alloy rods in the water-cooled copper crucible, and the molten metal is made by bottom injection. The liquid enters the guide tube to form a stable and small liquid flow. When the alloy liquid flow passes through the nozzle and passes through the atomizing nose, the high-speed airflow generated by the atomizing nozzle is crushed and solidified to form fine powder particles, which has high production efficiency and exceptional The advantages of high powder yield.
After testing, the TA32 titanium alloy powder produced by this technology has excellent properties such as high purity, high sphericity, high fluidity, and high bulk density. Various performance tests were carried out on the TA32 with a particle size range of 15-53μm. The oxygen content of the powder was 1000ppm, the nitrogen content was 190ppm, and the hydrogen content was 50ppm. The content of various impurity elements was far below the relevant requirements of the GB / T3620.1-2016 standard. The physical properties of the powder were tested. The median particle size d50 of TA32 powder was 36 μm, the bulk density was 2.4 g / cm3, and the Hall flow rate was 45 s / 50 g. The various performance indicators met the metal 3D printing process requirements.
TA32 titanium alloy powder laser selective melting and forming performance
By controlling the laser energy density, TA32 titanium alloy powder was subjected to laser selective melting 3D printing forming tests under different process parameters. The metallographic test results showed that the grain size of the TA32 powder laser selective melting forming specimen was relatively small, without visible cracks, Defects such as holes. Further, test the mechanical properties of the test piece, the results show that the tensile strength and elongation of the sample at room temperature reached 1200MPa and 8%. The test pieces have high-temperature tensile strengths of 867 MPa, 819 MPa, and 712 MPa at 500 ° C, 550 ° C, and 600 ° C; plastic values of 14.4%, 15.9%, and 17.0%, and have excellent mechanical properties.
TRUNNANO (Luoyang Trunnano Tech Co., Ltd ) is a professional Nitinol Titanium powder manufacturer with over 12 years experience in chemical products research and development. If you are looking for high quality Nitinol Titanium powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. 
