Titanium industry innovator Aerospace Hiwing (Harbin) Titanium Industrial Co., Ltd (refer to as AHTi) announce the successful development of TA32 material – A high-temperature Titanium powder, and its processing parameters on Farsoon’s FS271M system.
With the rapid expansion of the civil aerospace industry in China, the demand for specialized, high-temperature titanium alloys has become a critical challenge for key component development such as aerospace engine and spacecrafts. In order to achieve optimized thrust – weight ratio, specialized titanium alloys are increasingly used in parts including engine compressor discs, blades, blisks, rotors, housing and intake pipes. Weight reduction and designated performance call for higher requirements for the operation temperature of titanium alloys; while other challenges in aerospace components development including complex structure, faster development iterations, have also kept challenging the established manufacturing process.
TA32 Titanium alloy — composition of Ti-5.5Al-3.5Sn-3Zr-1Mo-0.5Nb-0.7Ta-0.3Si, is a novel α-type high-temperature material developed in China. The TA32 material features an outstanding tolerance of operation temperature of up to 550 ℃, and short-term tolerance up to 600 ℃, with good comprehensive mechanical properties such as tensile, fatigue and creep, it is an ideal alternative material for steel or nickel-based superalloy components. With a solid background in titanium material and aerospace industry, AHTi had observed the emerging market for TA32, and metal 3D printing as an ideal advanced manufacturing solution for high-temperature applications.
Figure 1: Farsoon FS271M metal laser sintering system
After a systematic technical evaluation, AHTi established a partnership with Farsoon in 2018 by investing in Farsoon metal laser sintering systems in their facility for TA32 3D printing material engineering, process development, and rapid prototyping.
The TA32 titanium alloy production uses an advanced cold crucible vacuum induction melting and air atomization technology (VIGA-CC), to produce high performance powder material with high efficiency and high yield of fine particle sized powder. After testing, the TA32 powder showcases excellent material properties such as high purity (Figure 2), high sphericity, high fluidity, and high bulk density. The physical properties of the material were also tested, featuring 36μm median particle size d50, the bulk density was 2.4g/cm3, and the Hall flow rate was 45s/50g — all well suited for the metal 3D printing process.
Figure 2: Chemical composition test results of AHTi TA32 powder material. Courtesy AHTi.
Thanks to the robust and truly open Farsoon FS271M system, the material processing development cycles was greatly accelerated, the customer is able to use their additive system with maximum flexibility and capacity in the development of customized TA32 processing parameters with the advanced “parameter-editor” included in Farsoon’s software package. AHTi application engineers were able to carry out a series of sintering tests by controlling the laser energy density, in order to determine the best suited processing parameter for the application. Metallographic analysis of the TA32 sintered parts shows a fine crystal grain structure, no defects of cracks or holes (figure 3). The mechanical properties of the parts are further tested, which shows excellent tensile strength, flexibility and plasticity, under high operation temperature of 500℃, 550℃ and 600℃ (figure 4).
Figure 3: Metallographic analysis images of TA32 sintered parts. Courtesy AHTi.
Figure 4: Mechanical properties of tested TA32 sintered parts. Courtesy AHTi.
Farsoon strives to offer industrial partners with truly open additive platform with optimal performance and operational flexibility to innovate, accelerate material development iterations, unlock unprecedented business opportunities and new industrial markets.
About AHTi:
Aerospace Hiwing (Harbin) Titanium Industrial Co., Ltd is established in 2013 specialized in titanium material research, development, manufacturing, as well as design, manufacturing and service of high-end titanium alloy products. AHTi is currently equipped with a VIGA production line of spherical titanium alloy powder with a manufacturing capacity of 30 tons per year.
About Farsoon:
OPEN FOR INDUSTRY-Farsoon Technologies, founded in 2009 in China, is a global manufacturer and supplier of industrial polymer and metal laser sintering systems, with increasing growth in the international market, with direct operation from Farsoon Americas CORP based in Austin, Texas, USA and Farsoon Europe GmbH based in Stuttgart, Germany. Farsoon is committed to developing truly open additive manufacturing platform machines towards its true industrial potential and providing customers with best-in-class solutions for machine, materials, software, applications and services. Working closely with industry partners, Farsoon has developed a comprehensive portfolio of industrial grade plastic laser sintering and metal laser melting machines to suit the need of a wide range of industries.
