Stanley Abkowitz, founder, president, and CEO of Dynamet Technology Inc., Burlington, Mass., will accept the International Titanium Association’s (ITA) 2013 Titanium Applications Development Award at the TITANIUM 2013 conference, held Oct. 6-9 at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas. Dynamet has pioneered the development and application of titanium powder metal (PM Ti) technology for four decades.
Acceptance of PM Ti as a substitute for conventional Ti-6Al-4V mill products or forgings for use in aerospace components has been a long-sought objective that marks a breakthrough for the PM titanium industry. Ti-6Al-4V is the most widely used titanium alloy for both aerospace and non-aerospace applications.
Dynamet recently garnered approval by aerospace giant Boeing Co. through Boeing Commercial Aircraft (BCA) after an extensive evaluation of Dynamet’s Ti-6Al-4V alloy product and development of a Boeing Materials Specification for powder metal titanium alloy manufactured by Dynamet’s PM Titanium processing approach. This effort resulted in Dynamet becoming the sole qualified supplier for Ti-6Al-4V powder metal products, meeting the requirements of the recently released Boeing Material Specification.
This qualification, along with receiving AS9100C certification, includes all the requirements of ISO 9100:2008 plus further requirements relating to quality and safety. It was issued April 29 after successful completion of the quality-system audit performed by TUV Rheinland of North America Inc., Newtown, Conn., an accredited third-party certification company. This qualification enables Dynamet’s titanium powder metal products to be used as an alternative to conventionally processed titanium for manufacture of commercial aircraft components.
Abkowitz said that winning the ITA’s Titanium Applications Development Award is a testament to his company’s persistence in proving the value of this powder metal approach as an alternative to conventional processing. He credits his team for the engineering, manufacturing and quality system advances and appreciates the qualification effort conducted by BCA that has led to this accomplishment.
Meeting the Boeing specification opens the door for the production of PM Ti-6Al-4V aircraft parts, from fuselage to landing-gear components. The manufacturing technology offers the capability to create near-net-shape parts, which can reduce production costs and scrap rates as well as speed delivery. According to Abkowitz, this represents a significant business opportunity for the global titanium market as the aerospace sector accounts for 55 percent of all titanium business.
The EBS (elemental blend sintering) process involves cold pressing, vacuum sintering plus an optional hot-isostatic pressing (HIP) step, all of which yields low-cost, high-density, preformed titanium alloy shapes. Abkowitz said there are two key breakthrough aspects in their process. First, it achieves tensile properties comparable to conventional wrought titanium products. Second, it uses special tooling technology, to produce near-net shapes.
At the heart of the process is the consistent production of high-quality titanium products in a near-net shape from raw material powders. Abkowitz said the process also supports the development of novel alloys. Because part production involves sintering rather than melting, entire new titanium alloy families, incorporating the advantages of high-performance metals such as tungsten, zirconium, tantalum and niobium as alloying elements, can be created.
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