New quality control standards for short-process titanium material forging

Perhaps everyone is concerned about one question: The titanium production process is lengthy and energy-intensive. Is there a shorter and more cost-effective approach?

 

Just happened to come across Beijing University of Science and Technology - regarding "direct rolling of titanium sponge into plates". In simple terms, it skips the melting and forging processes, presses the titanium sponge into blocks, wraps them with pure titanium sheets, and then directly goes for hot rolling. The idea is quite bold, but judging from the results, it is feasible. Today, we will share the specific process and conditions of the WEST Ti experiment.

Implementation conditions:
First, the sponge titanium is pressed into blocks, placed into a pure titanium container, evacuated and welded. Then, it is run through a rolling machine for rolling. They went through this process in three stages -

First process: Heat to 900°C and hold for 100 minutes. The four passes are from 75mm to 25mm (final rolling temperature: 740 - 760°C).
Step 2: Maintain at 860℃ for 25 minutes. The two passes will be from 25mm to 10mm (the final rolling temperature will also fall within the same range).
Stage 3: Maintain at 880℃ for 50 minutes. Each of the 4 processes is from 10mm to 4mm.
After each thickness is rolled, they take samples to measure the data. During the process, we pay close attention to several indicators: how dense is it, are there any voids inside, and do the mechanical properties meet the standards?
                                       

Result:
As the number of rolling passes increases, the sheet becomes increasingly dense. When it reaches a thickness of 4mm, the density can reach 99%. The pore area at different positions (edge, 1/4, middle) is all reduced to within 5 μm², with a difference of only 0.3%. This indicates that the uniformity of the sheet indeed improves under large deformation. In terms of mechanical properties, for plates of 25mm and 10mm thickness, the strength and elongation directly meet the ASTM B265 American standard. For the 4mm thick plate, the elongation after rolling is only 20.5%, but after annealing at 590°C, holding for 30 minutes and then air cooling, the yield strength is 258 MPa, the tensile strength is 309 MPa, and the elongation is increased to 30%, all meeting the requirements. One interesting finding is that the strength after annealing is slightly lower than the rolled state (304/338 MPa), but the plasticity has been restored, exactly within the range required by the American standard (280~420 MPa).

After that, our WEST Ti followed this approach and conducted experiments in production. For thicker billets, we focused on the densification process, while for thin plate products, we strictly followed the annealing procedure. From the time the billets arrived at the factory until the finished products left the factory, we set up multiple quality control points, and each process had quantitative standards. Now, being able to adhere to these rules is thanks to a set of increasingly detailed regulations. In essence, it's converting the conclusions from the laboratory into specific operational standards in the workshop.
                                             

WEST Ti adheres to the rigorous standards of professional titanium manufacturing that have been established over 20 years. It prioritizes scientific evidence and follows it when producing, ensuring the stability of its products. Our technical team regularly compares with the latest scientific research results and continuously optimizes the process procedures to ensure the stability and reliability of product quality. It is precisely this attitude based on science and guided by data that enabled our titanium products to establish a good reputation among customers in 2025, open up new markets, and be exported to South Korea and Vietnam.
 

In the future, we will continue to focus on process research and development, maintaining high standards, and providing titanium products with excellent performance and stable quality for the international market.

Reference article:王亚铮,张宇,韩盈,余伟. 海绵钛直接轧制板材的组织性能分析[J].钛工业进展,2025,42(5)：1-6.