Norsk Titanium Expands into the Industrial Application Market in collaboration with Hittech Group
“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”
Norsk Titanium AS (Norsk Titanium; Euronext: NTI), a global leader in additive manufacturing of aerospace-grade titanium components, announced an expansion of its customer base into the industrial application market sector in collaboration with the Hittech Group, based in Den Haag, Netherlands.
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 modernize their supply chains. This effort represents Norsk’s first step to support these modernization efforts with a faster, more cost efficient and environmentally friendly approach.
Using Norsk’s revolutionary Rapid Plasma Deposition™ (RPD™) process, Norsk engineers have designed a titanium alloy preform that will reduce Hittech’s raw material needs by over 45 percent as 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. Utilizing nearly the full 90 cm by 60 cm build envelope of Norsk’s proprietary G4B machine, the resulting RPD™ form will weigh nearly 100 kilograms. 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.”
