Titomic sells TKF 3D printer to the UK

Large-scale metal additive manufacturing company Titomic has sold a a TKF1000 additive manufacturing system valued at $2.3 million to a research and technology organisation based in the United Kingdom.

Titomic will ship the machine in May next year to TWI in a purchase funded by the Aerospace Technology Institute.

It will form the basis of TWI’s overarching Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing Project, allowing TWI’s industrial members to join a portfolio of projects focused on the aerospace sector.

The use of the TKF System offers a number of advantages, particularly when considering fabrication from materials that are typically challenging to process by fusion-based approaches such as those that suffer from oxidation, solidification cracking and anisotropic grain growth, according to the company.

“The UK Aerospace sector will gain strategic advantage from the system’s ability to work with a wide range of metals and the potential to create large components in a short space of time, creating cost reductions, reduced lead and downtimes, and simplified supply chains are of strategic advantage to the UK aerospace sector.”

Titomic CEO Herbert Koeck said the sale was a significant milestone for the company.

Koeck said: “TWI are recognised as a leader in metals research for manufacturing applications and with their strong membership portfolio, this acquisition highlights the importance of the TKF System as a manufacturing technology.

“We are excited to be working with TWI and look forward to continued growth opportunities in the UK”.

TWI section manager Dr Henry Begg said the group had been active in cold spray research for the past 15 years.

“We will now be able to perform larger and more complex fabrications and, working closely with Titomic and our wide industrial membership base, develop the potentially revolutionary opportunities this technology brings.

“Complementing our existing facilities for laser, arc and electron beam additive manufacture, the TKF1000 offers a fundamentally new approach to fabrication, bypassing some of the challenges associated with solidification and opening up the possibility of multi-material builds.”

Picture: Titomic

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