UK-based metallic 3D printing powder producer Metalysis has secured almost €1 million from the European House Company (ESA) to sort out two issues which have lengthy unsettled Western aerospace: the place to supply titanium, and find out how to produce it extra cleanly.
The ESA funding will help a 24-month challenge to develop the South Yorkshire producer’s proprietary Fray, Farthing, and Chen (FFC) Cambridge electrolysis course of from its present batch operation right into a steady or quasi-continuous one for titanium manufacturing, with purposes supposed for each area and non-space industries.
Titanium’s attraction to aerospace engineers has all the time been easy. It’s robust, mild, corrosion-resistant, and performs reliably at excessive temperatures. The difficulties have by no means been with the fabric itself however with the world round it.
Earlier than 2022, Russia provided a lot of the titanium sponge utilized by Western aerospace producers. That provide is now successfully closed off, and China has moved in to fill the void, at present accounting for round 70% of world output. For an business that treats provide chain safety as a near-engineering concern, that’s an uncomfortable place to be.
A Cleaner Path to Titanium
The usual manufacturing methodology, the Kroll course of, brings its personal set of issues. It’s multi-step by nature, requiring melting, thermomechanical processing, and high-purity uncooked supplies at every stage. It relies on chlorine fuel, produces vital portions of hazardous waste, and is energy-intensive all through. It really works, however at appreciable price to each economics and the atmosphere.
The FFC course of was developed on the College of Cambridge in 1997 with these precise shortcomings in thoughts. Somewhat than following the Kroll route, it makes use of molten salt electrolysis to scale back titanium oxide electrochemically, yielding titanium straight in solid-state and bypassing the a number of melting phases that make typical manufacturing so concerned.
When mixed with Powder Metallurgy (PM) for Close to Web Form (NNS) consolidation, it additionally eliminates the thermomechanical processing steps that add additional time and price to the normal route. The output is titanium of upper purity, produced with decrease power consumption, fewer hazardous by-products, and extra exact management over alloy composition. Metalysis holds the patent.
That course of at the moment runs in batch mode via the producer’s GEN-3 and GEN-4 reactors, a configuration that serves the AM sector adequately however falls nicely in need of what the broader bulk titanium market calls for. Shifting to a steady or quasi-continuous operation is the central goal of the ESA challenge, and attaining it can require experience nicely past what any single firm holds.
To get there, Metalysis is main a five-company consortium drawn completely from the UK and EU. The British companions are Lucideon Ltd, TTP Plc, and NCHG Ltd, joined by Austria’s RHP-Know-how GmbH, which contributes particular powder metallurgy experience. Throughout the group, the consortium covers ceramics processing, supplies science, electrochemistry, course of improvement, and powder metallurgy, bringing collectively the total unfold of disciplines the challenge calls for.
Rt Hon. John Healey, MP for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough & UK Secretary of State for Defence mentioned, “That is nice information for South Yorkshire. Metalysis is a world-leading innovator, and this funding from the European House Company is a powerful vote of confidence within the cutting-edge superior manufacturing happening proper right here in our area.”
The Race to Safe Titanium Provide
The urgency round securing Western titanium provide is being addressed on the opposite facet of the Atlantic as nicely. In america, supplies firm IperionX secured a contract value as much as US$47.1 million from the US Division of Protection (DoD) to construct a completely built-in home titanium provide chain, from mineral extraction via to metallic manufacturing.
The funding covers two phases over two years, concentrating on each a crucial minerals challenge in Tennessee and a titanium manufacturing campus in Virginia. Just like the Metalysis challenge, it’s constructed round proprietary non-Kroll manufacturing applied sciences, reflecting a broader recognition that fixing the availability drawback and manufacturing course of drawback are more and more the identical problem.
The demand facet of that equation can be shifting. In early 2026, Canadian titanium powder provider Tekna obtained a buy order for Ti-6Al-4V powder value CAD 1.5 million for laser powder mattress fusion (LPBF) 3D printing, positioned by an undisclosed US protection Tier-1 provider.
The amount represented a threefold improve over earlier orders from the identical buyer, following a separate CAD 2.0 million titanium powder order from one other US protection Tier-1 provider introduced simply weeks earlier. Each orders lengthen deliveries via 2026, pointing to an AM sector the place defense-driven demand for certified titanium powder isn’t easing.
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Featured picture exhibits demonstration of the circulate of Metalysis metallic powders. Picture through Metalysis
