Annual consumption of 5.4 tons of titanium alloy, successfully used in land, sea, air, space metal 3D printing solutions

----- Reprinted from 3D Printing Technology Reference
On February 8, 2021, Sciaky, the world's leading supplier of metal additive manufacturing, announced that the total amount of titanium alloy deposited by electron beam additive manufacturing technology in 2020 reached 5443kg, which exceeded the previous data. Even during the epidemic, high-end manufacturing in the United States does not appear to have been seriously affected, and both car manufacturing and rocket testing and launches are taking place as usual.

Sciaky's electron beam additive manufacturing metal 3D printing solution is a wire-based directed energy deposition process (EBAM)

The vast majority of West Yaki's titanium alloy deposition manufacturing is related to the production of parts, which are used in certified aerospace and defense applications, as well as various titanium alloy prototypes for research and development. Such projects do not disclose details to the outside world because of confidentiality agreements.
The Power of Electron Beam Wire Additive Manufacturing
Electron beam additive manufacturing reduces the time and cost associated with traditional manufacturing (I. e. forging and casting). West Yaki's EBAM 300 printer once produced a 3-meter-long titanium aircraft structure at a rate of about 6.8kg/hour in 48 hours; normally, using this process, it can be completed in 2 days Forgings that used to take 6-12 months to complete. Compared with other metal additive manufacturing processes, EBAM can deposit 3.18-11.34kg of material per hour, depending on the material and part characteristics, which is nearly ten times higher. Simply put, EBAM technology provides true scalability for part size and quality, and is the most cost-effective industrial metal 3D printing process for a range of applications.

West Yaki EBAM 3D Printer

West Yaki EBAM 3D Printed Parts

West sub-electron beam deposition process can print titanium, tantalum, tungsten, copper, aluminum, stainless steel and high-temperature alloys and other materials. In many cases, metal welding wire raw materials are 50% or more cheaper than powder raw materials, and are safer and easier to store. It can print parts or structures up to 5.79 x 1.22 x 1.22 m, or manufacture circular parts up to 2.44 m in diameter. The patented IRISS closed-loop control technology provides extremely high control over part geometry and material composition, enabling automated and adaptive real-time process control, automatic process variable acquisition and recording, and thus consistent part organization and mechanical properties.
Aerospace and defense are the most important application areas
In the field of 3D printing technology, a company can consume 5.4 tons of titanium alloy material in a year, but this can not only be attributed to the high throughput of the equipment, but more importantly, the number of orders it has. According to West Yakitou, it currently has five large-format 3D printers, as well as large orders from aerospace and defense customers. The details of the project are not available due to confidentiality agreements, but through the customers with whom they have previously worked.

SUB Customer Coverage Areas

In 2014, West Yaki manufactured the key hemispherical tank components of the space system to Lockheed Martin. In 2016, West Yaki delivered a large industrial-grade metal 3D printer to Airbus. Before that, the company had already manufactured the internal structure of the aircraft wing for Airbus. In 2017, West Yaki announced that it would produce metal 3D printed components for the International Submarine Engineering (ISE)AUV submarine. In 2020, west Yaki announced the acquisition of 12 new aerospace projects, ranging from advanced research and development to prototyping and final parts production manufacturing. Currently, West Yaki's EBAM technology is the only approved industrial metal 3D printing solution for land, sea, air and space applications.

Application of West Yaki in Land, Sea, Air and Space

In other areas, the company has also been proven for intensive military applications, such as 3D printer bodies, landing gear, and missile and vehicle parts. But in general, for large-scale metal 3D printing technology, aerospace and defense are its most important application areas.
Titanium 3D printing demand is growing strongly
The static properties of titanium alloy specimens manufactured by additive manufacturing approach or even exceed the forging standard, and its tensile strength can reach 1200Mpa. Compared with traditional cutting, 3D printing also shows the characteristics of easy processing and less waste in titanium alloy forming, and can meet the needs of small batch, personalized and rapid design response. In addition, 3D printing also provides new ideas for lightweight, configuration design and integrated rapid design and manufacturing of titanium alloy materials.
Based on excellent comprehensive performance and high technical maturity, additive manufacturing titanium alloys (such as TC4, TC11, TiAl, etc.) have been widely used in typical complex structural parts and aero-engine components of multi-type aircraft at home and abroad, and show obvious advantages such as low cost and high efficiency.
Titanium alloys have been a leader in the metal 3D printing materials market, accounting for 65.3 percent of global revenue in 2019, according to the Market Analysis Report, depending not only on volume, but also on price. The aerospace industry's use of 3D printing to manufacture titanium alloy prototypes has become a major factor in promoting growth, and its ability to meet industry requirements in terms of weight, strength and corrosion resistance has enabled it to maintain sustainable growth.

Number of material products for each of the seven main 3D printing processes and six materials (source Wohlers Report2020)