Manufacturing of PAM-Only Processed Titanium Alloys

摘要

The principal objective of the current work was to develop a single-melt (PAM) process for casting Ti-6Al-4V into slabs suitable for direct rolling to armor plate. The Ti-6Al-4V PAM casting effort is collaborative effort between RMI Titanium Company, Galt Alloys, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, and the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC). PAM (plasma arc melting) process offers an opportunity to produce titanium alloys in a single melting step with flexibility of raw materials, while improving yield and reducing production cost. This paper will present RMI's effort in developing single-melt products made from PAM Only process. In a U.S. Army/Navy sponsored project, several 330 mm x 864 mm x 2032 mm slabs were successfully cast and two of them rolled into 5 mm and 25.4 mm plate. The 25.4 mm plate was welded into a Crew Module structure of a demonstration article known as the Integrated Hybrid Structure (IHS). Bars of 12.7 mm diameter and 101.6 mm RCS (round corner square) billets were made from 127 mm diameter and 381 mm diameter ingots, respectively. Results showed that microstructure and mechanical properties are equivalent to those produced from (2 x VAR) material. Efforts toward aerospace implementation will also be reviewed.