This week, Norsk Titanium has announced that it is entering the semiconductor manufacturing market.

The Norwegian company has a vision to be a global leader in the innovation of metal and this step is essential for the industrial manufacturing supply chain. 

Supply chain support for the aviation industry

Norsk Titanium is an aviation and aerospace component manufacturing company, founded in 2007 and headquartered in Hønefoss, Norway. 

In 2017, the company opened its Development and Qualification Centre in Plattsburgh, USA, to show its additive manufacturing production line and how it can benefit the aerospace sector. Later in 2020, Norsk Titanium opened a production plant there for its additive manufacturing technology, used across the Defense, Oil and Gas markets.

Norsk Titanium is already ahead of the game in additive manufacturing, with over 100 patents, but Norsk Titanium’s new Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) technology is another huge step. 

Norsk Titanium metal additive manufacturing

In the manufacturing of its titanium parts, the company uses proprietary RPD™ technology which minimises cost and the volume of titanium which needs to be mined. For the airlines which use this technology, it means that their aircrafts are much lighter and therefore consume less fuel.

“The fundamental approach to metal manufacturing hasn’t changed in hundreds of years,” said Michael Canario, Norsk Titanium’s CEO. “We are industrialising a new, cost-efficient and environmentally appropriate production process for the manufacturing of structural metal components.”

In the process, titanium wire is melted in an argon gas environment, while being monitored over 600 times each second, to maintain quality assurance. It is then built up into the layers required. This precise manufacturing reduces energy costs, at a time when doing so has never been more important and will help to balance the titanium supply chain, in a welcome step for manufacturers.