Norsk Titanium expands into industrial applications market

The production of the first industrial component in this development supports a Hittech end customer in the growing semiconductor equipment market.

Norsk expects significant near-term investment by manufacturers in the semiconductor market as they seek to modernise their supply chains. This effort represents Norsk’s first step to support these modernisation efforts with a faster, more cost efficient and environmentally friendly approach.

Using Norsk’s Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) process, Norsk engineers have designed a titanium alloy preform that will reduce Hittech’s raw material needs by over 45% compared to legacy wrought product used to fabricate the end component today.

Leveraging the RPD industrial process enables Norsk to create a near-net-shape design while maintaining the required quality controls and material properties Hittech needs for this critical component. Utilising nearly the full 90cm by 60cm build envelope of Norsk’s proprietary G4B machine, the resulting RPD form will weigh nearly 100kg.

Delivery of a first test article is expected by year-end with serial production planned to begin in 2022.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Hittech in the transition of the design of this component to RPD material,” said Michael Canario, CEO of Norsk. “Hittech has been a strong supporter of our technology, and we are delighted to have reached this phase in our partnership. We look forward to exceeding their affordability targets with a more efficient and cost-effective method of manufacturing titanium.”

“This development marks a significant change in how industrial components will be manufactured with substantial savings in downstream processing time and cost in a sustainable fashion,” added Marco Verloop, Hittech division director. “We look forward to investigating how Norsk can further adapt their technology to this application.”

Norsk Titanium www.norsktitanium.com