Development of Low-Cost Titanium Sheet via a Combination of Field Assisted Sintering Technology and Hot Rolling (FAST-roll)

The use of Field Assisted Sintering Technology (FAST) to consolidate metal powders and particulates is on the rise due to the short sintering cycles and flexibility the process permits. Through combining the process with; low-cost feedstock and secondary thermo-mechanical processing operations, low-cost and sustainable titanium plate and sheet can be manufactured. Out-of-spec Additive Manufacturing (AM) powders and cleaned-graded machining swarf can be used independently, or together, as a truly low-cost feedstock, since FAST is agnostic to powder size and morphology.

This talk will give an overview of recent work developing the two-step FAST-roll hybrid processing route for various titanium alloys. Sections were taken at various reductions throughout the rolling process for characterisation. These were analysed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), allowing the microstructure and texture evolution of both powder and swarf-derived FAST material to be understood and compared to conventional UD-rolled plate. Initial mechanical testing has been performed allowing comparison between the tensile properties of FAST-rolled plate and wrought material, demonstrating that FAST-roll has the potential to produce comparable properties and microstructures. These results demonstrate the potential for this method to be up-scaled as a route to produce cost-effective and sustainable titanium sheet, with as little as two processing steps.