Page 22 - Australian Defence Magazine March-April 2022

22 DEFENCE BUSINESS MANUFACTURING
MARCH-APRIL 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
PIONEERING SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING
Last August, Melbourne-based additive manufacturing SME Titomic was awarded a $2.325 million Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) grant to explore and commercialise the production of space vehicle and satellite parts using a grade of titanium that has a more sustainable footprint and which could eventually be produced here in Australia.
TITOMIC will utilise its unique Titomic Kinetic Fusion (TKF) cold spray technology to explore the potential of this local, low carbon emission ‘green’ titanium.
“The fundamental challenges you face in additive man- ufacturing with Laser Powder-Bed Fusion technology (LPBF) is speed and size. At Titomic, we are overcoming that process with cold spray technology,” Herbert Koeck, CEO of Titomic recently told ADM.
“With the MMI grant, we’re working basically in two ar-
eas where we think there is a sweet spot for this cold spray technology,” Koeck added. “One is around radiation shield- ing and the other is around green titanium use.”
In December, Titomic announced a collaboration with Boeing that would see the latter provide the designs and en- gineering expertise to help Titomic match material perfor- mance to a commercial application. Together, the compa- nies will identify the specific use cases for green titanium in the spaceflight program and beyond.
ROYA GHODSI | SYDNEY