The Oak Ridge National Laboratory cooperated with its industry partners to develop a non-melt consolidation process which can create parts from titanium powders with a power reduction of up to 50%.
Titanium has often been touted as a material of choice, because it is hard and light, making for vehicles which are safer and more mobile.
According to the researchers, the non-melt approach includes roll compaction for directly fabricating sheets from powder, press and sinter techniques which create shaped components and extrusion.
The titanium powders are not melted, but remain in their solid form. By not having to melt the metal, energy is saved, as is the amount of scrap produced.
The technology was only developed recently because of the emergence of new low-cost titanium powders. Conventional titanium powders are too expensive for the technology to yield any real world benefits.
The new fabrication technique will also allow new types of alloys to be produced, which will further decrease the weight of resulting products.