With the rapid increase in demand, technological progress, and mass production, China's metal 3D printing powder materials are becoming more and more competitive. China's leading aerospace powder titanium alloy and powder superalloy material manufacturer ZHMT Powder Technology Group, through technological innovation and production process breakthroughs, reduced the direct manufacturing cost of titanium powder production by 50%.
Spherical titanium powder is the key raw material for the 3D printing forming process of metal parts such as SLM, EBM, LSF, etc., and has been widely used in the manufacture of aerospace titanium alloy components and medical titanium alloy devices. Due to the performance and quality requirements of aerospace structural parts and medical implants, this type of titanium powder is required to be pre-alloyed products, that is, high-quality spherical alloy powder products are prepared from alloyed base materials. The preparation technology of pre-alloyed spherical titanium powder has always been One of the hotspots of research at home and abroad.
The research and development of pre-alloyed spherical titanium powder materials in China started late. Early scientific research-level equipment almost all relied on imports, and the independent localization capabilities for equipment and material development were insufficient. ZHMT independently developed China’s first batch of titanium powder electrode induction gas atomization production equipment in 2016, and developed a series of titanium alloy powders with high sphericity, low oxygen content, and good fine powder yield, involving pure titanium, titanium alloy, and high strength Nearly 10 high-quality titanium powder products such as titanium alloys, titanium-aluminum intermetallic compounds, and nickel-titanium shape memory alloys (many of which are subject to export control in Europe and the United States), meet the urgent needs of aerospace users and realize the development of complete sets of titanium powder equipment in China Independent control of technology and titanium powder raw material products.
In order to realize the application of spherical titanium powder products to medical, automotive, communications and other fields, European and American companies have used technological innovation and large-scale production to reduce the manufacturing cost of spherical titanium powder and reduce global supply prices in recent years. The "high cost" of spherical titanium powder production has become a barrier to the application and promotion of domestic materials and participation in global competition. "Reducing cost and increasing efficiency" has become an urgent topic for domestic titanium powder manufacturers, and technological innovation is the core means.
In August 2020, the ZHMT R&D team has been working on a variety of titanium powder preparation technologies in recent years. In the direction of electrode induction gas atomization technology and equipment, in order to reduce the large consumption of high-purity argon by this technology, the design and construction The intelligent argon gas circulation system uses a multi-stage booster unit to recover, purify and pressurize the atomized gas, which realizes the recycling of high-purity atomized gas, and reduces the direct manufacturing cost of titanium powder production by 50%.
The equipment system also integrates multiple subsystems such as oxygen, water and pressure flow monitoring, purification and purification, and realizes the automation and intelligent control of the equipment system. Through the continuous batch preparation of TC4, TA15 and other grades of titanium powder, the oxygen content and nitrogen content in the system achieve zero growth, and the trace element and gas content data of the titanium powder meet the requirements of aviation and medical grade. After the titanium alloy powder is formed by the selective laser melting process, the structure is dense and the printing performance is excellent. Typical materials, such as TC4 and TA15, meet the technical requirements of key applications in the aerospace field.
At the beginning of 2019, SHMT's two titanium powder production lines were officially put into operation. The designed macaroni production capacity of a single production line reached 70 tons/year. It is the first low-cost spherical titanium powder large-scale production line in Jiangsu Province. The operation of this equipment system will be further improved. Domestic high-quality titanium powder supply capacity and global market competitiveness.
ZHMT currently has a recovery rate of EIGA titanium powder below 53μm in excess of 55%, with a maximum of 67.5%. It is a global leader and has achieved major breakthroughs in core technology.