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Titanium Cheaper Than Aluminum? The Cool Parts Show All Access

General Atomics’ Steve Fournier describes how directed energy deposition makes titanium economical for aircraft structural components.

Peter Zelinski
Peter Zelinski
Editor-in-Chief, Additive Manufacturing

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Which material is the more economical choice becomes counterintuitive when additive manfuacturing is invovled, says Steve Fournier, senior manager of the Additive Design and Manufacturing Center of Excellence for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. “I am not arguing that the raw material of aluminum is more expensive than the raw material of titanium,” he says, but the total manufacturing cost includes many other factors. Total cost determines when to adopt 3D printed titanium parts like the wing splice described in episode #72 of The Cool Parts Show. In the case of this part, both design advantages and cost savings drove the choice to adopt it in place of what had been a machined aluminum part. When the choice is between 3D printed titanium and 3D printed aluminum, Fournier says, total cost analysis tends to make titanium the cheaper metal, even though the raw material cost is higher. In this video, he makes the argument and describes the relevant factors.

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