Physicists from Russia’s Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) (www.tpu.ru) are currently working to create hydrogen-resistant products from titanium alloys using additive-manufacturing (AM) processes.

The production of metal products using AM ensures less material consumption, as well as the potential to develop complex geometric products.

A three-year grant allocation for the research has been provided by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF).

Titanium parts account for 15-20% of a modern civil aircraft. In the framework of the RSF grant, TPU physicists are committed to showing the advantages of titanium parts produced using AM against traditional foundry techniques.

TPU researchers plan to ‘print’ aircraft parts from BT6 and BT9 titanium alloys.

The former is a material produced commonly in Russia; it will be used to manufacture turbine parts that will be subjected to high temperatures, corrosive media and saturation with atmos-pheric hydrogen during operation.