Norway’s Norsk Titanium (Hall 4 Stand A114) announced here it will supply the equipment to operate what it says is the world’s first industrial-scale Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) factory for production of aerospace-grade titanium in Plattsburg, New York, under a partnership between the State of New York and Suny Polytechnic Institute. The factory will be built and operated by the company’s U.S. subsidiary and is scheduled to be operational by the end of next year.

Norsk, a pioneering supplier of aerospace-grade, additive manufactured, structural titanium components, will supply 20 of its patented Merke IV rapid plasma deposition machines for the factory. Baseline production level is 400 metric tons per year, ramping up to 800 tons, to meet increasing demand for titanium from the aviation industry. Total investment in the operation over its first ten years is pegged at $1 billion, of which New York will contribute $125 million.

The company, which is making its Farnborough Airshow debut this year, also announced it has already received an order for RPD-produced titanium engineering test articles from Boeing; another order for RPD test articles from Thales Alenia Space, for the evaluation of such processes for spacecraft components; and that it has signed a long-term agreement with Mecachrome to produce components for OEM and tier 1 companies.

The Boeing articles will be produced using Ti-6Al-4V powder to create preforms using the RPD process.

Norsk is exhibiting a full-scale mock-up of its Merke IV RPD machine here. The Merke III machine has already been qualified by Boeing.