Norsk Titanium & QuesTek Test Additive Titanium Alloy

QuesTek Alloy Optimized for Additive Processes Yields Additional Performance

Paris, France – June 17, 2019 – Building upon the collaboration announced at Farnborough in July 2018, Norsk Titanium (Norsk) has successfully printed QuesTek’s custom titanium wire in support of initial material properties testing.

QuesTek thoroughly evaluated the microstructure and measured the properties in several heat-treated conditions including various combinations of stress relief and solution treatment. Superior performance versus Ti-6-4 has been demonstrated.

The highest performance condition was a basic one-hour solution treatment where an average Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of 147 ksi and an average elongation of 18% was measured. This represents an increase in both strength and elongation, while maintaining fatigue performance, over standard Ti-6Al-4V.

“QuesTek’s high-performance titanium alloy provides an opportunity for Norsk’s customers to optimize components printed with Norsk Titanium’s RPD™ process and opens doors for new applications,” said Norsk Chief Technology Officer Carl Johnson.

The typical Ti-6Al-4V microstructure shows an α/β structure consisting of packets of parallel α laths, while the QuesTek’s titanium alloy is an α’ martensitic structure with a “basket weave” morphology of martensitically-formed α’ plates. The non-parallel and refined nature of the plate martensite structure in QuesTek’s alloy is believed to be responsible for the increased strength and toughness compared to coarser, parallel α laths of Ti-6Al-4V. QuesTek’s alloying element contributes an enhanced response to heat treatment, beneficial for both strength and elongation properties.

Norsk and QuesTek plan to perform additional testing, while working with aircraft and propulsion manufacturers on the improved business case the new alloy affords.

For more information on Norsk, visit www.norsktitanium.com. Norsk will also have a display of its RPD™ technology at the International Paris Airshow, June 17-20.

About Norsk Titanium AS

Norsk Titanium is a global leader in metal 3D printing, innovating the future of metal manufacturing by enabling a paradigm shift to a clean and sustainable manufacturing process. With its proprietary Rapid Plasma Deposition^® (RPD^®) technology and 700 MT of production capacity, Norsk Titanium offers cost-efficient 3D printing of value-added metal parts to a large addressable market. RPD^® technology uses significantly less raw material, energy, and time than traditional energy-intensive forming methods, presenting customers with an opportunity to better manage input costs, logistics, and environmental impact. RPD^® printed parts are already flying on commercial aircraft, and Norsk Titanium has gained significant traction with large defense and industrial customers

About QuesTek Innovations

QuesTek Innovations LLC is a global leader in Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME). QuesTek has used its proprietary Materials by Design® methodology to rapidly design and deploy a family of commercially-available Ferrium® steels that are being used in demanding aerospace and space applications including landing gear and transmission gears. QuesTek has been involved in >40 projects to resolve materials issues across various alloy systems in additive manufacturing (Al, Mg, Cu, Fe, Co, Ni and Ti) to improve component performance by modifying chemical compositions and optimizing the heat treatments, or designing entirely new alloys.