TWI adds Titomic’s TFK1000 for cold spray AM project
August 19, 2021
Titomic Ltd, Melbourne, Australia, has received a £1.2 million order from TWI, Cambridge, UK, to supply a TKF 1000 Additive Manufacturing machine. The purchase is funded by the Aerospace Technology Institute, a UK government-industry programme established to support R&D in the UK’s aerospace sector, and will form the basis of TWI’s overarching Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing Project.
The TKF1000 is built around Titomic’s Kinetic Fusion (TKF) cold spray Additive Manufacturing technology. The machine will reportedly allow TWI’s industrial members to join a portfolio of projects under the umbrella of the Cold Spray AM Project, as they develop and validate manufacturing opportunities.
“This is a significant milestone for Titomic,” stated Herbert Koeck, CEO of Titomic. “TWI are recognised as a leader in metals research for manufacturing applications and with their strong membership portfolio, this acquisition highlights the importance of the TKF System as a manufacturing technology. We are excited to be working with TWI and look forward to continued growth opportunities in the UK.”
The TKF1000 is said to offer a number of advantages, particularly when considering fabrication from materials that are typically challenging to process by fusion-based approaches (such as those that suffer from oxidation, solidification cracking, anisotropic grain growth, etc.). It was added that the UK aerospace sector will gain a strategic advantage from the system’s ability to work with a wide range of metals and the potential to create large components in a short space of time, leading to cost reductions, reduced lead and downtimes, and simplified supply chains.
Dr Henry Begg, Section Manager, TWI, added, “TWI are excited to expand our cold spray capability significantly with the acquisition of the TKF 1000 system. Having been active in cold spray research for the past fifteen years, we will now be able to perform larger and more complex fabrications and – working closely with Titomic and our wide industrial membership base – develop the potentially revolutionary opportunities this technology brings.”
“Complementing our existing facilities for laser, arc and electron beam additive manufacture, the TKF 1000 offers a fundamentally new approach to fabrication, bypassing some of the challenges associated with solidification and opening up the possibility of multi-material builds.”
