Titanium powder metallurgy (PM)

[AirborneMetals]

Titanium powder metallurgy (PM) potentially offers some very interesting possibilities, like manufacturing net shape or near net shape parts, avoiding machining and recycling costs

It enables virtually any geometry and offers new design possibilities

There are two basic approaches to obtain titanium alloy powder.

These are known as the pre-alloying and the blended elemental approach.

Prerequisites for metallurgical consolidation are:

The powder must be fine and semi-spherical, as this allows higher packing density and low porosity, resulting in strong components
Particles must be compositionally homogeneous as heterogeneity may comprise the benefits.

Some aerospace-relevant powder acquisition methods are known as PREP (Plasma Rotating Electrode Process), TGA (Titanium Gas Atomization), and PA (Plasma Atomization).