Titanium Alloy Wire Used In 3D Printing

Definition of 3D printing

3D printing can be defined as a type of rapid prototyping technology, which constructs objects by layer-by-layer printing based on digital model files and use bondable materials such as powdered metal or plastic. 3D printing is usually achieved by printing materials through digital technology that is often used to make models in the fields of mold making, industrial design, etc., and then gradually used for manufacturing of some products directly, there are already parts printed using this technology. In 3D printing, metal powder printing molding is generally using powder sintering molding technology, using infrared lasers to directly sinter various metal materials, such as mold steel, titanium alloy, aluminum alloy, CoCrMo alloy, iron-nickel alloy and other powder materials. Titanium alloys are widely used in various fields because of their high strength, good corrosion resistance, and high heat resistan.

Properties of Titanium Alloys

The performance of titanium is related to the content of impurities such as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. The purest titanium iodide has an impurity content of no more than 0.1% with low strength and high plasticity. The properties of 99.5% industrial pure titanium are: density:ρ=4.5g/cm3, melting point: 1725"C, thermal conductivity:λ=15.24W1(m.K), tensile strength:σb=539MPa, elongation:δ=25%, section Shrinkage rate:ψ=25%, elastic modulus E=1.078X 105MPa, hardness HB195.

The application of 3D printing titanium alloy

Titanium alloy has high strength and low density, good mechanical properties, good toughness and corrosion resistance. In addition, the process performance of titanium alloy is poor as it’s very easy to absorb impurities such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon during hot processing. The industrial production of titanium started in 1948. The need for the development of the aviation industry makes the titanium industry develop at an average annual growth rate of about 8%. The world's annual output of titanium alloy processing materials has reached more than 40,000 tons, and there are nearly 30 types of titanium alloys. The most widely used titanium alloys are Ti-6Al-4V (TC4), Ti-5AI-2.5Sn (TA7) and industrial pure titanium (TA1, TA2 and TA3). Titanium alloys are widely used in aerospace technology as a high performance material with features of light weight, high strength, good toughness, corrosion resistance. It’s also applied in medical equipment, chemical equipment, military and sports equipment and other fields. 3D printed titanium alloy turbines, gears, skeletons and other objects can construct complex geometric shapes as well.