Development of a titanium material by utilizing off-grade titanium sponge

摘要

Titanium alloy for forging and pure titanium material for exhaust systems have been developed. The forging alloy will be applied to production of lightweight motorcycle frames and the pure titanium will be applied to improve engine performance. The materials have been made inexpensive by the use of off-grade sponge that includes many impurities for production of titanium ingot. Stable characteristics have been obtained by controlling oxygen equivalent after setting the volume of tolerable impurities by considering mechanical properties and production engineering. In spite of low cost, the material provides the same design strength compared to conventional material, and enables parts production with existing equipment. A review of manufacturing and surface treatment processes indicated a reduction in the price of titanium parts produced with this new material. It is expected that this technology is suitable for automobile applications and may be applied to a wide range of other titanium alloys.