Titanium with exemplary properties is strategic to multiple applications, produced only by the Kroll process which is the magnesium reduction of titanium tetrachloride. For over half-a-century extensive investigations have been performed to replace the Kroll process. A process to carbothermically reduce TiO2 to Ti2OC which is electrically conductive has been demonstrated to use Ti2OC as an anode to electrolytically produce titanium as a powder. The process has been extensively demonstrated from the laboratory through to initial production scale demonstrated. The projected production cost is under $4/Kg as a high purity low oxygen powder.

Fusion-based metal additive manufacturing (AM), growing at a double digit rate over the past decade, and escalating, has become the norm for the first look of how to replace the standard subtractive processing to produce metallic componentry for aerospace applications. There are multiple power process of laser, e-beam, and plasma transferred arc to produce the energy beam that melts wire and/or metal powder into a pool that through computer aided design process control builds metals layer-by-layer into near net shape componentry free of a requirement for tooling. Columnar growth, distortion, and defects from fusion AM play a major role in building shapes to tolerances and certifying quality suitable for aerospace applications. Real-time monitoring of the build through multiple wavelength technology, the output of which feeds algorithm systems that real time control the AM system, provides history of the build. The use of a subtractive capability to in-situ real time remove detected defects can provide a histogram of the build that, combined with post nondestructive testing and proper heat treatment, can provide certification the AM-produced component meets aerospace requirements. Solid state nonmelt friction stir processing (FSP) of metals has demonstrated substantial freedom of distortion, producing very fine isotopic grain structures exhibiting properties greater than wrought or AM produced material. FSP can be coupled with fusion AM to produce certifiably aerospace quality metal componentry exhibiting exemplary properties. Aerospace manufacturing is being transformed by AM, which is becoming the new norm.

A micro-scale investigation was carried out by applying atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study in situ the adsorption of various collectors, i.e., oleic acid, octanohydroxamic acid (HA), and salicylhydroxamic acid (SHA), on bastnaesite in aqueous solutions. The obtained AFM images show that the surface morphology of bastnaesite changes greatly after it comes into contact with the solutions of the collectors, suggesting that all these collectors can effectively adsorb onto bastnaesite. Increasing temperature can facilitate the adsorption of oleic acid onto bastnaesite. Results from attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (ATR-FTIR) also show that all of these collectors adsorb strongly onto bastnaesite, with strong absorbance spectra being detected. The ATR-FTIR results confirm those obtained by AFM. In general, hydroxamic acid collectors (HA and SHA) adsorb onto bastnaesite mainly in the form of insoluble metal hydroxamate. This specific adsorption mechanism explains that a high selectivity with a moderate collectivity will be achieved with a hydroxamic acid collector for the flotation of bastnaesite.

There is no production of rare earthRare earth metals in the U.S. in spite that the U.S. is the largest consumer of rare earthsRare earth in some form that includes consumer and Department of Defense (DoD) devices. The one U.S. mine has been purchased by the Chinese that even enhances their monopoly on rare earthsRare earth . A research effort has demonstrated rare earthRare earth oxides can be extracted from bastnaesite oreBastnaesite ore as well as coal ashCoal ash at efficiencies in the upper 90s percent. The rare earthRare earth oxide can be carbothermically treated to produce an oxycarbide which is highly electrically conductive. The rare earthRare earth oxycarbide can be used as an anode in anhydrous fused salts electrolysisElectrolysis to produce a highly purified rare earthRare earth powdered metal. It is also possible to electrofractionateElectrofractionate the individual metals which can be combined with co-deposition of iron and boron to produce the highly magnetic alloy Nd2Fe14B.

There is only one primary producer of magnesium (Mg) metal in the U.S. utilizing an electrolytic process with feed from the Great Salt Lake. While electrolytic extraction of Mg from anhydrous MgCl2 is 1.3× more energy efficient than the ferrosilicon reduction of dolomite, this Pidgeon process consumes over 2.3× the energy and produces 5× the CO2 of the electrolytic MgCl2 process. However, direct electrolytic reduction of MgO provides an opportunity to produce Mg at 20

Metal additive manufacturing patented in 1925, today uses electron beam or laser beam pool melting as well as using laser or electron beam powder sintering a single layer at a time to build relatively small near net shape parts. Friction Stir Processing (FSP) as a solid state non-melt process has also been demonstrated to build parts layer by layer as well as repair parts. Plasma transferred arc (PTA) power system melt pool processing has low capital cost, very high build rates compared to e-beam or laser and has built larger multiple feet size parts with property values equivalent to superior to wrought material. In the case of titanium, sponge has been used as a low cost feed to produce varieties of alloy compositions with exceptional strength and higher moduli that have also included ceramic particulate with applications in the auto industry. FSP has produced double strengths over analogous wrought alloys.

A low-cost process to produce titanium powder and as an alloy in a size and morphology useful for powder metallurgy processing has been lacking. Processing has been demonstrated to electrolytically produce titanium and alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V in a powder size and morphology useful in powder metallurgy processing. Ores or TiO2 are carbothermically reduced to produce Ti2OC that is used as an anode or to make TiCl4, which are electrolyzed to produce Ti powder on a continuous basis. To produce the alloy Ti-6Al-4V, AlCl3 and VCl3 are added to the fused salt electrolyte. The electrolytic produced powders have served as a feed in additive manufacturing to produce fully dense defect-free near-net-shaped parts at substantially lower cost and which exhibited enhanced mechanical properties.

Titanium alloy powder provides manufacturing variants to produce a variety of titanium intermediate materials and final products. However, titanium alloy powder is quite expensive at fifteen to thirty times the cost of sponge thus limiting the utilization of titanium powder to produce titanium products. The standard state-of-the-art processing to produce alloy powder results in very high cost of alloy powder. Three new processes have been demonstrated to produce titanium alloy powder at a cost of only 2-5 times the typical cost of sponge. The processes are (1) one step melting of sponge/alloying and gas blowing alloy powder, (2) metallothermic reduction of mixed chloride precursors to produce alloy powder and (3) electrolytic reduction in a fused salt of mixed alloying (TiCl4-AlCl3-VCl4) chlorides. These processes have beeSubscript textn demonstrated to produce low cost titanium alloy powder which can serve as feeds for the variant manufacturing processes to produce low cost titanium products.

In spite of titanium's excellent combinations of lightweight, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance it has been excluded from many applications because of its high cost in fabricated componentry. The major cost to produce a titanium alloy component is the processing of the sponge into alloy plus the several processing steps for fabricating the final finished component. If low cost titanium is to become a reality, the cost of post sponge processing to final finished components must be dramatically reduced. Processing to convert sponge directly in one step to an alloyed near net shape low cost component has been demonstrated. The mechanical properties are equivalent to better than standard processed wrought titanium. Example, automotive components and other applications that confirm titanium componentry at substantially lower cost than standard processing will be provided.

Titanium alloys offer the potential to reduce weight by over 40% over steel. However, applying a reliable liner coating to a titanium barrel has not been demonstrated, which is a major reason titanium barrels have not replaced steel barrels. Titanium carbonitride (TiCN) coatings on cutting tools are among the hardest ceramics and possess low coefficient of friction, which is desirable properties for a gun barrel liner.It has been demonstrated possible to build gun barrels from the inside out utilizing a mandrel with reverse rifling which provides the opportunity to produce a TiCN surface functionally graded into the titanium barrel structure. Such a barrel will save approximately 40% weight over steel barrels and with the TiCN liner there is potential to provide infinite barrel life independent of the propellant and projectile. A plasma transferred arc (PTA) rapid manufacturing process can produce the titanium barrel structure in the range of $6 9/lb resulting in cost effective titanium gun barrels.

Current rapid fire guns used by DoD overheat during sustained rapid firing. Silicon nitride (Si3N4)-based ceramics have demonstrated the potential to be used as gun barrel liners. A process has been demonstrated which is capable of producing silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramic gun barrel liners with in-situ rifling. One meter liners were rifled with the profile of the Army M107 rifle. A novel process was developed to produce the rifling profile on the ID of the bore to net shape without the need for machining which would be prohibitively expensive for ceramics. The Si3N4 barrel liners have been overcoated with titanium alloy as a barrel structure and readied for live fire testing.