ZTP-DeD: Repairing MRO & Medical
ZTP-DeD is a near α titanium matrix nanocomposite (nTMC) designed specifically for additive manufacturing (AM). ZTP-DeD belongs to the ZTi-Powder® family and it offers several powders (ZTP05D, ZTP10D and ZTP25D) with different mechanical properties. The powders possess very high mechanical properties at room and high temperature compared to forged and additively manufactured Ti64. The unique chemical composition and processing of ZTP-DeD allow a very high corrosion resistance at high temperature and experiments showed a very stable microstructure at 850 °C. In addition, in-house heat resistance coatings could be applied over ZTP-DeD parts in order to sustain the harsh environments of aerospace applications. ZTP-DeD is already in use for the MRO market to repair landing gears and produce shackles. In addition, it is also used for coating in the medical field to produce very hard acetabular cups using DMT® machines from InssTek company. DMT® is Direct Metal Tooling, developed by InssTek is categorized as Direct Energy Disposition(DED) technology according to ASTM standards. Using vision cameras, ZTP-DeD processed via DMT technology analyzes and controls the height of the melt-pool in real-time by controlling laser power. Therefore optimum conditions for making prototypes were selected.
All results are the fruit of a four years Eureka program under the acronym of ZTI POWDER-DMT. Shackles (See picture ahead) and HIP CUP coatings were made using ZTP-DeD powders and have passed the mechanical properties test suitable for each field. Shackles made of ZTP-DeD are lighter and have higher allowable load value than Ti64, so it is good fit for aerospace industry. HIP CUP coating made using ZTP-DeD powders are advantageous for biological bone growth because of pore size and porosity and they have high adhesion strength of more than 77 MPa.
