IperionX wins U.S. Air Force titanium recycling challenge for additive manufacturing use

IperionX was announced as the winner of the U.S. Department of Defense’s National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Grand Challenge contract. As a result, IperionX will be eligible to produce titanium metal powders from scrap materials and rejuvenate used or out-of-specification titanium powder for the AFRL. The Grand Challenge is a competitive challenge program hosted by the U.S. Department of Defense’s National Security Innovation Network.

Hands holding titanium scrap
The AFRL Grand Challenge involved selecting the most commercially promising technology for producing titanium metal powders from scrap titanium and rejuvenating out-of-spec titanium powders for use in additive manufacturing.

Winning this Grand Challenge, against a field of leading titanium industry participants, is an important validation of IperionX’s patented technologies to produce circular, low-carbon, and lower-cost titanium metal from 100% recycled titanium scrap or out-of-specification titanium powder feedstocks.

The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Department of Defense are accelerating the use of additive manufacturing to reduce long lead cycle times and to produce large volumes of complex parts for advanced weapons systems.

Only 20%-40% of titanium powder used in additive manufacturing ends up in fabricated parts. Titanium metal powders are typically reused only a limited number of times before the quality is compromised by elevated contaminant levels or inferior powder morphology. Out-of-specification titanium powders increase the probability of defects and jeopardize the structural integrity of additively manufactured components.

Titanium metal produced by the current “Kroll Process” is high carbon, energy intensive, and expensive. Leading companies across the defense, automotive, consumer electronics, and luxury goods sectors want to source low-carbon, low-cost titanium from traceable recycled sources. IperionX’s patented technologies offer a pathway to significantly lower cost, and lower carbon, titanium metal powders for titanium components in these industries.

IperionX Spherical Titanium-64
Additive manufacturing is critical for the U.S. Air Force to manufacture novel and complex geometry titanium alloy parts, including for aerospace and hypersonic missile applications.

The patented technologies were developed by Dr. Zak Fang, an American Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Utah, and uniquely position IperionX to upcycle a wide variety of low-grade, high-oxygen content titanium scrap, which has historically been downcycled to lower-value markets. IperionX is able to achieve greater yields of nearly 100% from low-grade scrap without the need for blending the scrap with high-grade primary metal.

Winning the Grand Challenge also complements IperionX’s project with Materials Resources to qualify titanium alloy powders for the U.S. Navy and test titanium flight critical metal replacement components for the U.S. Department of Defense.

The winner of the Grand Challenge is eligible for a contract award of up to $500,000 across four phases, with IperionX successfully completing Phase 1, and will complete Phases 2 – 4 as part of routine production operations at its Titanium Pilot Facility in Utah.

Written by

Rachael Pasini

Rachael Pasini is a Senior Editor at Design World (designworldonline.com).