A program developed at a British university may bring new flexibility to producing aerospace-grade titanium alloys.

FAST-forge, developed by engineers at the University of Sheffield and funded by Innovate UK, is set to provide engineers with more design flexibility, and potentially lead to improved “buy-to-fly” ratios. That is the ratio of the nominal weight of materials purchased to the final component weight. Currently for some aerospace components, 90% of the forged titanium alloy is machined away to waste material.

Researchers transform rutile sand to titanium alloy aerospace components in three steps.The availability of titanium is important to the UK’s aerospace manufacturing industry, which is second in size to the United States. Increased air travel means that orders of civil aircraft -- which are increasingly made from carbon composite fuselage and wing structures -- are set to rise over the next decade. This will result in a corresponding increase in the need for titanium for fasteners and high-strength forgings due to its compatibility with carbon.

Current world mill production capacity of titanium is currently at about 130,000 tons. That means availability may be restricted until additional sources of titanium are made available.

That’s where the Sheffield team hopes to come in. Working with industry partners, the group of researchers are working to transform rutile sand to novel titanium alloy aerospace components in three steps: production of titanium powder from the rutile sand, field-assisted sintering technology, and a one-step forging process.

The research group’s industry partners include Metalysis, the UK's Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) and Safran Landing Systems.

Dr. Martin Jackson, director of Aerospace Engineering and co-director of the Sheffield Titanium Alloy Research group stated that because titanium is lightweight and corrosion-resistant, it has performance, environmental and cost ownership advantages over high-grade steels. But it costs three times as steel because of the limited supply. The FAST-forge process, he says, shows how the benefits of titanium over steel can be achieved more efficiently and at lower cost.

Jean-Philippe Villain-Chastre of Safran Landing Systems, a maker of aircraft landing and braking systems, says that his company is contributing machining, testing capabilities and expertise in qualifying aerospace-grade materials to the project.