IperionX and Carver Pump to produce Titanium 3D Printed Parts for the U.S Navy

Image via Carver Pump

IperionX Limited, a material producer that has made it a key business goal to revitalize a low cost, low carbon U.S. titanium industry, announces a partnership with Carver Pump for the additive manufacturing of titanium pump components.

Discover more about IperionX and its technology in this interview: Entering a new age of real low-cost Titanium for Additive Manufacturing with IperionX.

Carver is a designer and manufacturer of high-performance centrifugal pumps that have been used in every major U.S. Navy shipbuilding program for the past 60 years. The U.S. Navy prizes titanium pumps for their exceptional corrosion resistance, and they are used across a wide range of naval applications including fire suppression, seawater cooling, main propulsion seawater, bilge, and desalination.

The company will design the titanium pump components, guide IperionX on prototyping, and lead the qualification of these titanium pump components for the U.S. Navy.

Both companies explain that the U.S. has no domestic capacity to manufacture the large titanium castings required for high performance centrifugal pumps, and this has led to long lead times for new pump components sourced from a foreign controlled supply chain that exploits high cost and carbon intensive titanium metal.

IperionX’s lower cost, lower carbon, U.S. titanium powders can be used to additively manufacture these specialized titanium pump components, and this provides the U.S. Navy with the capability to significantly reduce lead times for critical parts, increase equipment availability, and sustainably re-shore a critical U.S. titanium metal supply chain.

The U.S. Navy’s, Naval Sea Systems Command (“NAVSEA”) has developed additive manufacturing processes for over 500 approved parts used in U.S. ships and submarines. The Governor of Virginia and the U.S. Navy are accelerating efforts to scale additive manufacturing, having recently opened the ‘Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence’ in Danville, VA, located just 25 miles from the site of IperionX’s new Titanium Demonstration Facility in South Boston, VA.

Titanium primary metal refining capacity (titanium sponge) controlled by China and Russia with ~70% of global production in 2022

 
“In just four months, we’ve seen dynamic progress from IperionX. As they continue to develop synergies with Carver Pump and the U.S. Navy using 100% recycled titanium scrap as feedstock which will soon be produced in Halifax County, we look forward to seeing IperionX’s continued growth and success. This puts Virginia on the map for providing a critical material that is essential for our advanced industries including those exhibited just down the road at the U.S. Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence”, Glenn Youngkin, Governor of Virginia comments.

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