MELBOURNE, Australia—Engineers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) have developed a way to print titanium-copper alloys. The lightweight material is ideal for many types of aerospace and medical device applications.
“Current titanium alloys used in additive manufacturing often cool and bond together in column-shaped crystals during the printing process, making them prone to cracking or distortion,” says Mark Easton, a professor of manufacturing, materials and mechatronics at RMIT. “And, unlike aluminum or other commonly used metals, there is no commercial grain refiner for titanium that manufacturers can use to effectively refine the microstructure to avoid these issues.