Development of the Additive Manufacturing Process for the ATI C-103™ Niobium Alloy

Production of high purity niobium and niobium alloys at ATI Specialty Alloys and Componentsextends to the dawn of the space age when ATI (then Wah Chang) co-developed the ATI C-103™ alloy, the workhorse niobium alloy for both primary lift and maneuvering thrusters since the Apollo program. The concurrent explosive growth of the private space industry and additive manufacturing presents a unique opportunity for expanded utilization of high performance materials like the ATI C-103™ niobium alloy.

In this presentation, we discuss recent progress towards additively manufactured ATI C-103™ niobium components, including properties of a powder feedstock and preliminary results from 3D-printed material. Created using a scalable process, the low interstitial powder comprises free-flowing spheres ideal for subsequent consolidation. Metallurgical properties of the as-deposited alloy are compared with the wrought product and provide context for the discussion of the inherent technical challenges of additive manufacturing with niobium alloys.