An Overview of Cold Spray Additive Technology in Australia for Melt-less Manufacture of Titanium

Abstract

The difficulty in significantly reducing the cost of titanium products is partly related to the high cost of manufacturing. This includes additive manufacturing; e.g. Electron Beam Melting (EBM) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM), as well as traditional approaches that are based on a melting process. In particular, the cost of titanium powder has placed limits on the application of additive manufacturing approaches that involve melting to broader commercial applications beyond military, aerospace and implants. More than a decade ago, Australia adopted cold spray technology as a meltless additive manufacturing technique to fabricate titanium through a strategic initiative at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The high deposition rate, ~100 times faster than the other additive technologies, and the solid state deposition were amongst the rationales for investment in cold spray technology. A combination of carefully designed experiments and sophisticated 3D models were developed to assess performance of the current industrial-scale cold spray systems for commercial clients. The success and challenges of this solid state deposition technology will be detailed with a focus on real industrial impact. The future development of melt-less titanium manufacturing using cold spray will be discussed with consideration of commercial and environmental benefits.