Low-cost Fe-bearing powder metallurgy Ti alloys

Low-cost titanium alloys could find their way into cost-sensitive sectors such as the automotive bringing significant environmental benefits and potentially leading to the stabilization of the titanium market, with an associated further reduction in costs. This work presents an overview of the advancements made on the understanding of the design, manufacturing and properties of low-cost Fe-bearing Ti alloys manufactured via powder metallurgy. Maximization of the reduction in the alloy and manufacturing costs derives from the joint contribution of the selected starting materials, alloying elements, and combination of processing steps used to produce the alloy. Specifically, low-cost commercially available powders (pure Ti and ferrous powders) are elementally blended and processed via press and sinter. The low-cost Fe-bearing powder metallurgy Ti alloys are designed to prevent embrittlement and commonly reach the properties typical of alpha + beta titanium alloys; they are therefore suitable alternative to manufacture non-critical engineering components. The overview is finalized by proposing areas of scientific interest needing further basic research which will help to tackle the challenge of moving forward the production of these new low-cost Fe-bearing powder metallurgy Ti alloys for industrial implementation.