Anticipating Commercial Production, Coogee Reports MeltFree Titanium Powder Operations Proven at Scale By Michael C. Gabriele
D
espite the global coronavirus pandemic throughout 2020, Coogee Titanium has continued with its substantial investment in the MeltFree titanium alloy powder production facility located outside Perth, Australia. “The pandemic slowed but did not stop Coogee Titanium’s progress,” Art Kracke, the president of AAK Consulting LLC, said, regarding Coogee’s strides towards commercial production. “Creative approaches and tenacity allowed work to proceed achieving significant progress toward full production of in-spec, high-quality, low-cost Ti 6-4 Grade 5 and 23 powders.” Kracke, based in Charlotte, NC, has been an executive in the titanium industry for nearly four decades and serves as a consultant to Coogee. “Vision, commitment, and tenacity are required to stay the course while others are battening down the hatches to weather the pandemic storm. This is exactly what Coogee Chemicals, the parent company of Coogee Titanium, has in its dedication to bringing their patented game-changing technology into the production of commercially pure (CP) titanium as well as titanium alloy powder.” As reported here last year, Coogee Titanium Pty Ltd. is completing construction of its integrated MeltFree continuous titanium powder production facility outside Perth, Australia. The 200-metric ton fluidized bed 24
TITANIUMTODAY
reactor was commissioned in 2019 and in recent months the Gen4 CVDU (Continuous Vacuum Distillation Unit) was brought online successfully. In addition, Coogee Titanium has built, commissioned and is producing ultra-low oxygen magnesium (Mg) powder at a UK facility. This plant has a capacity in excess of 400 metric-tons per annum.
pressing). Duxson explained that “in addition to powder production for additive manufacturing, the MeltFree process offers the industry a new flowsheet enabling continuous production of titanium in a fullyenclosed controlled production environment—the operational and product quality benefits compared to the conventional Kroll sponge process are potentially significant.”
Ultra-low oxygen Mg powder is a critical feedstock to the MeltFree process as it is used to reduce TiCl4, AlCl3, and VCl4 in a continuous Kroll-like reaction. Coogee’s Technology Director, Dr. Peter Duxson, believes that “all major unit operations for Coogee Titanium’s MeltFree process have now been proven at scale and routine powder production from the facility in the year ahead will demonstrate our ability to achieve consistent quality finished product, with an oxygen level <1000 ppm.” This is a genuinely transformative technology and the engagement with industry over the upcoming period will establish the credentials of the MeltFree powder process.
Bringing low-cost MeltFree titanium powder to production requires multiple innovations, Kracke explained. The first was scaling up, controlling the reaction, and commissioning a 200T fluidized bed reactor (FBR). “The FBR transforms liquid metal chlorides into an intermediate stage solid alloy particle. The second innovation was the design and construction of a 50ton continuous vacuum distillation unit (CVDU), which has been commissioned.”
Commercial production at the Perth-based facility of Ti6Al-4V and 6Al-4V ELI (extra-low interstitials) powder will be geared for industrial applications include powder bed, DED (direct energy deposition), and cold spray additive manufacturing technologies, MIM (metal injection molding), HIP (hot isostatic pressing), and CIP (cold isostatic
Continuous processing has eluded titanium sponge production for decades. Coogee Titanium’s process, from a high level, is similar to the Kroll sponge making process, but produces individual powder particles instead of multi-ton unalloyed sponge cakes. “Titanium alloy powder’s time has come,” Kracke said. Kracke acknowledged that metal producers know that what can be done in the lab or pilot facilities may not be achievable on a production scale. However, Coogee has confronted these challenges,
