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New process may be step change in titanium's economics

South Yorkshire, internationally renowned during the 19th century for its steel making, could soon become famous for another type of production: titanium, the so-called wonder metal, which could be hugely significant to the automotive and aerospace industries and the 3D printing revolution.

Metalysis, a small metals manufacturer based in Rotherham, near Sheffield, is in talks with commercial partners to build a $500m titanium industrial plant to use its new process of making low-cost titanium powder.

Jaguar Land Rover is one company that has already signalled its interest in the development. "If a new process was capable of reducing the overall cost of titanium products by such a large amount, then many industries, including automotive, might be interested," said Mark Barrington, rapid prototyping manager at JLR. It currently uses cheaper lightweight high strength aluminium within its vehicles.

Titanium is regarded as a "wonder metal" for its valuable properties: its lightness, strength and corrosion resistance has led to its use in aerospace industry, state of the art surgery and high-performance cars. However, the use of titanium in widescale manufacturing has been held back by its high price.

Powders of the metal currently sell for $200-$400 per kilogramme - compared to $30-$50 for aluminium powders - but Metalysis said its new process, which it has spent the last few years refining, could reduce the price of titanium in some instances by as much as 75 per cent. This would make the wonder metal almost as cheap as speciality steels.

Dion Vaughan, chief executive officer of Metalysis, believes low-cost titanium could replace the current use of aluminium and steel in many products. Cheap titanium has many potential uses, such as making car components that would be lighter than steel ones. The company recently road-tested its powders by making a 3D printed titanium automotive component for a car turbo charger.

The current method of producing titanium centres on the 80-year old Kroll process, a method that uses a lot of energy and produces only small quantities of titanium. Metalysis' technique takes rutile sand and transforms it directly into powdered titanium using electrolysis.

"There's potential for a real step change in the economics of titanium," said Martin Jackson, senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield. Last year only about 140,000 tonnes of titanium was made and consumed worldwide compared to 48m tonnes of aluminium and 1.5bn tonnes of steel.

Metalysis is positioning itself to become the leading titanium powder supplier for 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, a technology that big industrial companies are looking at as a means of speeding up production and making more lightweight parts. The technology dates back to the 1980s, when 3D printers used plastics. The latest technology is capable of building complex shapes from ceramics and metal.

The global market for 3D printing of metal structures was worth €1.7bn in 2012. However, this is estimated to more than quadruple over the next 10 years as associated costs fall, according to Roland Berger, the strategy consultancy.

Last month, Rolls-Royce said it was gearing up to use 3D printing technology to produce components for its jet engines, while General Electric has plans to use it to create fuel nozzles for jet engines.

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