Titanium alloy has the characteristics of low density, high specific strength, corrosion resistance, high and low-temperature resistance. Its forming technology was first developed to meet the needs of the aerospace industry. In the early stage, in order to meet the urgent needs of research and development, it was mostly purchased by the government. Therefore, it has the characteristics of heavy quality and light cost.
In recent years, China's high-tech field has developed rapidly. In order to meet the demand for lightweight structural components, the demand for high-quality titanium alloy components in major aerospace projects such as "manned aerospace project", "lunar exploration project", "large aircraft" and "high score satellite" and new weapons and equipment has increased year by year. At the same time, shipbuilding, chemical industry, medical treatment, nuclear power Titanium alloy has gradually been widely used in civil fields such as fire protection.
However, at present, the production cost of high-quality titanium alloy parts is still high, which is mainly caused by two aspects:
1. The smelting process is demanding. Titanium is extremely active at high temperatures and is easy to react with oxygen, nitrogen, silicon, carbon, and other elements. The smelting and heat treatment processes need to be carried out under the protection of vacuum or inert gas, so it is difficult to control the purity and uniformity of components;
2. It is difficult to form. Titanium alloy has poor deformation ability, high yield/elasticity ratio, and low thermal conductivity. It is difficult to form by conventional cold / hot processing. It is estimated that in the whole production process of titanium alloy components, the preparation cost of sponge titanium raw materials accounts for about 14%, the processing cost of titanium alloy ingots and plates accounts for about 36%, and the forming cost of titanium alloy final products accounts for about 50% (Fig. 1), It can be seen that the cost composition of titanium alloy products mainly comes from the preparation of billets and plates and the forming links such as forging, casting and machining.
Final product :50% Titanium Sponge:10% Rolled products:21% Billet:15%
Figure 1 cost composition and proportion of the whole production process of titanium alloy products
