Jane's Defence Industry
08 July 2009
Briefing: Australian titanium and the Joint Strike Fighter
Jon Grevatt Asia-Pacific Reporter
Key Points
- Australia is looking to exploit titanium opportunities on global Joint Strike Fighter programme
- R&D agencies develop new techniques in a bid to overcome production challenges
The Australian government is encouraging titanium ore producers and research and development (R&D) organisations to find solutions that would enable domestic defence industries to produce titanium parts for F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) across the globe.
Australia has 40 per cent of the world's titanium ore resources, according to government statistics, but faces several production challenges in order to meet the JSF and wider military aerospace requirements.
The economic benefits, however, could be significant should these challenges be overcome. The value of contracts related to titanium production for the JSF produced in Australia could total AUD60 million (USD47 million) and potentially billions of dollars on future global contracts.
A spokesman from the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) told Jane's on 7 July: "Cost-effective utilisation of titanium is relevant to the JSF's 'follow-on development', which will incorporate enhancements to JSF throughout its life, adding to its affordability, which is an ongoing priority over the 40-year life of the JSF programme."
The spokesperson also said that as well as the 100 JSFs required by the Royal Australian Air Force, Australian industry "has the opportunity to manufacture parts for the global production run [of JSFs]: initially around 3,000 aircraft but potentially as many as 4,500".
Opportunities and challenges
He added: "This is an opportunity for internationally competitive and innovative Australian companies and R&D agencies to become engaged in new advanced technologies - titanium is one of these."
Titanium is used in a wide range of JSF parts - for example, the major spars in the aircraft's vertical stabilisers - and the Australian DoD spokesperson pointed out that, as the aircraft is constructed mainly from composites, "the design specification therefore calls for the consequent use of titanium for critical parts".
However, before strategies can be put in place to produce and market Australian-manufactured titanium JSF parts, the government, R&D agencies and industries need to overcome a significant challenge. The main issue they face is that the large quantity of titanium sourced from Australia is supplied only as rutile - otherwise known as titanium dioxide - which is not suitable for commercial manufacturing.
"No metal or alloy production capability exists here at present," said the DoD spokesperson. "There is, therefore, a strong case to develop a viable national titanium industry. There is potential for an 'ore in the ground to parts on the aeroplane' supply chain from Australia."
JSF Industry Technology Facilitation programme
To address the problem, Australia's joint industry-government JSF Team Australia has recently initiated the Australian JSF Industry Technology Facilitation programme.
This facilitation programme has led the DoD to survey research being carried out in universities and publicly funded research organisations in Australia - such as the Co-operative Research Centres (CRC) and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation's (DSTO's) Defence Materials Technology Centre - as well as raise awareness of the need to develop procedures to produce titanium economically.
The DoD spokesperson said: "This is with a view to identifying, and ultimately exploiting, new technologies that will help position Australian companies to engage in developing future applications of titanium, particularly in regard to developments of the JSF."
As well as the JSF Industry Technology Facilitation programme, Australian companies and R&D agencies are involved in several other initiatives designed to improve techniques related to titanium processing and exploit opportunities in the JSF and other aerospace programmes.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is one of the leading R&D organisations working on these initiatives. Dr Christian Doblin, a research engineer in light metals at the CSIRO, told Jane's on 8 July that the organisation was committed to developing production techniques for titanium ore.
"There are several qualities that make titanium so suitable for fighter aircraft production," he said.
"It has a very high strength-to-weight ratio, meaning that an aircraft can fly faster with less fuel; it has a high resistance to corrosion; it can withstand very high temperatures; and, unlike aluminium, it is compatible with other hi-tech materials that are used on fighter aircraft such as polymers.
"The titanium ore that Australia produces is mostly exported... But we are working on some developments that will cut the cost of titanium metal production and hopefully make titanium production for the JSF possible in Australia."
Doblin said that these developments are centred on a new method called TiRO to process titanium powder into feedstock, or in this case a metal wire, suitable for commercial manufacture. "The traditional Kroll method [after inventor William J Kroll] of processing titanium ore is complex, costly and time consuming - it usually takes up to four days and then people have to bash out ingots using sledge hammers," he added.
"But using our new technology we are developing ways to process ore into the titanium metal suitable for production by using powder. The powder is formed from a continuous reduction process of titanium tetrachloride with magnesium and it means we are able to shape the parts we want and there is less waste and costs."
Jane's understands that the CSIRO is likely to undertake a pilot programme shortly testing its TiRO methods in producing titanium forgings for the JSF programme. However, CSIRO has said that additional investment partners to support follow-on stages - leading eventually to the expected construction of a commercial titanium production facility - are still required.
