Reimagine your part production!

Carpenter Powder Product’s titanium powder manufacturing facility in West Virginia
Carpenter Powder Product’s titanium powder manufacturing facility in West Virginia

Mike Richardson meets speciality alloy producer, Carpenter Technology Corporation’s vice-president of Aerospace Markets, Marshall Akins to discuss the rise of additive manufacturing (AM) and how it’s changing the economics of materials and part production.

A game-changer, a disruptive technology – call it what you will, AM is here to stay, and is increasingly gaining traction in what is still ostensibly a subtractive machining world.

How aerospace components are produced, sourced and used, and what’s needed to make the next-generation aircraft possible – from reimagining how you work with the supply chain to using the most advanced alloys – could conceivably all change, and AM powder metals will undoubtedly have a huge role to play.

With a 128-year pedigree in the business of supplying speciality metal solutions, Carpenter Technology knows a thing or two about this business. The company considers itself an irreplaceable solutions provider for mission critical applications; with an extensive product portfolio ranging from advanced stainless steels, nickel and cobalt-based alloys, to titanium products, all of which Carpenter manufactures in a variety of product forms, including round bar, billet, ingot, strip and sheet, wire, and powder.

The company currently offers over 500 different alloys, which it customises depending on the specific problem of the customer, be it an OEM or tier. As a result, Carpenter’s total offering encompasses some 15,000 variations. Other reasons Carpenter bills itself as an industry leader for quality aerospace materials include its vacuum induction melting, and premium re-melt processing capabilities, which provide high purity ultra clean materials, as well as its R&D capabilities, which it uses to innovate to produce new material solutions for its customers.

While most of Carpenter’s sales are derived from cast wrought and solid forms, Marshall says there is increasing industry interest for the powder metallurgy upgrade, especially AM. Customers, he says, are inquiring about everything from material selection and certification for critical components, to guidance on how to set up AM processes, to novel alloy development – all of which Carpenter is well suited to provide.

“The aerospace sector represents about half of our overall business,” he begins. “Various end applications rely on us: we have an engine business, a fastener business and an aerostructural business comprising landing gear, flaps and slats, etc. Basically, various components on the aircraft requiring advanced steel, alloy, or titanium materials. We also have an aero-electrical and avionics segment utilising soft magnetic materials.

“In general, our materials solutions offer high-strength, high-corrosion resistance, high-temperature resistance, or have magnetic properties which enable the improved performance of an electrical component or sub-system, like greater power output for lighter weight. However, increasingly more of our materials are finding their way into additive manufacturing applications. We are also assisting customers explore our powder for applications use in Metal Injection Moulding (MIM), Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) of near net-shape parts, and thermal spray applications.”

Carpenter Technology Corporation additive manufacturing Marshall Akins
Microscope image of titanium powder particles

Powder to the people!

In terms of supply chain demands placed on Carpenter by its aerospace customers and how it’s evolving to keep pace with them, Akins says OEMs and tiers are increasingly contacting Carpenter to help them understand much more about advanced material solutions

“For example, many OEMs are working to continue to lightweight the plane. Design can only get you so far before we need to start thinking about use of new materials. For the tier suppliers who continue to have the objectives of removing more cost, we’re increasingly in dialogue about processability and creating materials that allow more yield, less waste and lower the cost of manufacturing.

“Customers need help in making additive manufacturing processes work for them. They want a part they can produce in a repeatable fashion - at the highest quality - and the economics that was on the blueprint when they first went down the route of exploring whether it could actually be produced or not. For example, this could involve the powder being put into the 3D printer: the customer may want to reuse it over and over again, so how can we best satisfy this demand? Carpenter is introducing new powders specifically with this benefit in mind, and we’re working with customers to establish their specific programs to accomplish this objective.”

I ask whether Akins is concerned by the increasing use of carbon fibre composites in the aerospace industry and whether it poses a threat to his business. Is he seeing a metallic backlash to compete with their desirable lightweight properties?

“We don’t see a significant threat because our materials are really used where it’s at present, hard to substitute them for carbon fibre materials, such as landing gear parts, for example. The steel used in this application is exceptionally strong and resilient. We actually see increasing demand for our types of materials in some parts of the aircraft where fastening composite material is not as straightforward as using metallics.”

Carpenter Technology Corporation additive manufacturing Marshall Akins
Parts made through additive manufacturing

AM is here to stay

According to Akins, the industry will be hearing a lot more about additive manufacturing going forward. Carpenter Technology utilised the last Paris Airshow to announce a strategic alliance to provide end-to-end supply chain solutions for the additive manufacturing marketplace. Burloak Technologies, a supplier of highly engineered additive manufacturing services, makes the partnership a global leader and solutions provider from concept to product delivery within additive manufacturing.

“Burloak has a large range of 3D printing machines where they can trial produce a new part and then work with us to optimise the additive powder input for use with the correct machine,” Akins concludes. “It’s important that we think specifically about using the right powder and customising it to a given process. The customer can come away with a completely redesigned part, produced by this new alliance between ourselves and Burloak.

“My view is that many customers are experimenting with additive manufacturing; they’re making prototypes, small batches, they’ve bought a machine and they’re creating an AM centre, but may not completely understand how to ready production for the process and scale it up. This is why we’ve formed a partnership to offer a one-stop shop to customers. We’ll be seeing many more AM parts being produced this way, rather than simply buying a machine and putting a team of people on it. In addition to offering an end-to-end solution, to help customers scale up we are also introducing new products – like our CarTech Puris 5+ powder – which allow greater re-usability, since they offer the high-strength and low oxygen you need to recycle the powder.”

Clearly, AM will continue to be a recurring theme, and even though there has been a lot of talking the talk about it in the aerospace industry, Carpenter is walking the walk too!

www.cartech.com

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