UK-based steel 3D printing powder producer Metalysis has secured almost €1 million from the European Area Company (ESA) to deal with two issues which have lengthy unsettled Western aerospace: the place to supply titanium, and the way to produce it extra cleanly.
The ESA funding will help a 24-month undertaking to develop the South Yorkshire producer’s proprietary Fray, Farthing, and Chen (FFC) Cambridge electrolysis course of from its present batch operation right into a steady or quasi-continuous one for titanium manufacturing, with functions supposed for each house and non-space industries.
Titanium’s attraction to aerospace engineers has at all times been simple. It’s robust, mild, corrosion-resistant, and performs reliably at excessive temperatures. The difficulties have by no means been with the fabric itself however with the world round it.
Earlier than 2022, Russia equipped a lot of the titanium sponge utilized by Western aerospace producers. That provide is now successfully closed off, and China has moved in to fill the void, at this time accounting for round 70% of world output. For an trade that treats provide chain safety as a near-engineering concern, that’s an uncomfortable place to be.
A Cleaner Path to Titanium
The usual manufacturing methodology, the Kroll course of, brings its personal set of issues. It’s multi-step by nature, requiring melting, thermomechanical processing, and high-purity uncooked supplies at every stage. It is determined by chlorine gasoline, produces vital portions of hazardous waste, and is energy-intensive all through. It really works, however at appreciable value to each economics and the surroundings.
The FFC course of was developed on the College of Cambridge in 1997 with these precise shortcomings in thoughts. Somewhat than following the Kroll route, it makes use of molten salt electrolysis to scale back titanium oxide electrochemically, yielding titanium instantly in solid-state and bypassing the a number of melting levels that make standard manufacturing so concerned.
When mixed with Powder Metallurgy (PM) for Close to Internet Form (NNS) consolidation, it additionally eliminates the thermomechanical processing steps that add additional time and price to the normal route. The output is titanium of upper purity, produced with decrease power consumption, fewer hazardous by-products, and extra exact management over alloy composition. Metalysis holds the patent.
That course of at present runs in batch mode by way of the producer’s GEN-3 and GEN-4 reactors, a configuration that serves the AM sector adequately however falls properly wanting what the broader bulk titanium market calls for. Shifting to a steady or quasi-continuous operation is the central goal of the ESA undertaking, and attaining it would require experience properly past what any single firm holds.
To get there, Metalysis is main a five-company consortium drawn totally from the UK and EU. The British companions are Lucideon Ltd, TTP Plc, and NCHG Ltd, joined by Austria’s RHP-Know-how GmbH, which contributes particular powder metallurgy experience. Throughout the group, the consortium covers ceramics processing, supplies science, electrochemistry, course of improvement, and powder metallurgy, bringing collectively the total unfold of disciplines the undertaking calls for.
Rt Hon. John Healey, MP for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough & UK Secretary of State for Defence stated, “That is nice information for South Yorkshire. Metalysis is a world-leading innovator, and this funding from the European Area Company is a robust vote of confidence within the cutting-edge superior manufacturing happening proper right here in our area.”
The Race to Safe Titanium Provide
The urgency round securing Western titanium provide is being addressed on the opposite aspect of the Atlantic as properly. In america, supplies firm IperionX secured a contract price as much as US$47.1 million from the US Division of Protection (DoD) to construct a totally built-in home titanium provide chain, from mineral extraction by way of to steel manufacturing.
The funding covers two phases over two years, focusing on each a important minerals undertaking in Tennessee and a titanium manufacturing campus in Virginia. Just like the Metalysis undertaking, it’s constructed round proprietary non-Kroll manufacturing applied sciences, reflecting a broader recognition that fixing the availability drawback and manufacturing course of drawback are more and more the identical problem.
The demand aspect of that equation can also be shifting. In early 2026, Canadian titanium powder provider Tekna obtained a buy order for Ti-6Al-4V powder price CAD 1.5 million for laser powder mattress fusion (LPBF) 3D printing, positioned by an undisclosed US protection Tier-1 provider.
The quantity represented a threefold enhance over earlier orders from the identical buyer, following a separate CAD 2.0 million titanium powder order from one other US protection Tier-1 provider introduced simply weeks earlier. Each orders prolong deliveries by way of 2026, pointing to an AM sector the place defense-driven demand for certified titanium powder will not be easing.
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Featured picture exhibits demonstration of the circulate of Metalysis steel powders. Picture through Metalysis
