IperionX Limited has announced its Hydrogen Assisted Metallothermic Reduction (HAMR) titanium production process has won the R&D 100 award.
IperionX and technology developer Dr Zak Fang have been recognised for HAMR, a low-cost and sustainable process for producing titanium metal powder that can be utilised in both additive manufacturing and traditional powder metallurgy manufacturing methods.
“It is pleasing that Dr. Zak Fang, his team at the University of Utah, and IperionX have been recognized for the development and commercialization of the HAMR technology to produce low cost, sustainable titanium metal powders, highlighting an important contribution to innovation and the significant progress made to develop and commercialize this truly revolutionary titanium technology,” IperionX CEO Anastasios (Taso) Arima said.
According to IperionX, titanium outperforms steel and aluminium in many applications, although its high cost frequently limits its employment to high-performance applications. Dr. Fang and his team at the University of Utah made the ground-breaking discovery that hydrogen can destabilise the link between titanium and oxygen, leading to the HAMR method’s invention.
Titanium metal can be produced using the HAMR technology from either 100% recycled titanium scrap or titanium minerals. The resulting high-quality titanium powder can be utilised in additive manufacturing or powder metallurgy to provide products with drastically lower costs and greater sustainability in various demanding applications, including aerospace, defence, and biomedical.
Unlike the Kroll method, the HAMR process uses low-temperature processing, decreasing direct carbon emissions and significantly lowering the cost of titanium metal. The HAMR process, when fed 100% titanium scrap, can create a circular supply chain for this advanced metal, which is crucial to America’s economic future and national security.
IperionX has successfully commercialised the HAMR process, generating high-quality titanium powder at its Salt Lake City Industrial Pilot Facility. To address the expanding demand for sustainable and lower-cost titanium metal, the company plans to build a larger facility in Halifax County, Virginia, that can swiftly scale its capacity in a modular fashion.
The R&D 100 Awards is a global science and technology awards program that recognises new commercial products, technologies, and materials for their technological relevance.
