J. C. Withers, R. S. Storm, R. O. Loutfy, MER Corporation, Tucson, AZ

Summary:

The cost of producing a titanium component is dominated by the processing cost compared to the cost of the basic source titanium such as sponge. In traditional processing there are numerous steps that contribute to the high cost of processing to produce the final component. Rapid prototyping or manufacturing solid free form fabrication offers an approach to produce near net shapes of titanium in one step. However, heretofore the high cost of feed of titanium powder or wire and the inefficiency of laser processing has not led to any major cost reduction in the final cost of a titanium component. It has been demonstrated that plasma transferred arc (PTA) processing with a sponge and alloying elements (i.e. Al and V) feed can directly produce a Ti-6Al-4V near net shape for approximately 3 to 4 times the basic cost of titanium sponge. The produced material has properties equivalent to a traditionally cast or wrought Ti-6Al-4V. This processing route offers significant potential to vastly reduce the cost over traditional titanium processing and expand the applications of titanium. Use of a lower cost titanium feed than sponge will further reduce the cost of the final Ti-6Al-4V component.