broadsword
Brigadier
The more pertinent question to ask is how does the fangled titanium compare with carbon-fiber like Toray 1000. It would not be lighter, I believe, but easier to repair and mold?
COMAC C919 - China's first modern airliner
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SamuraiBlue
Captain
Don't think you can make a simple comparison.
According to the article you'll have to adjust the the size of crystal so you can't just weld it together. Same with composite materials.
Basically if it fails both would probably require a replacement.
As for molding again you' probably need a temperature controlled furnace in a complete controlled atmosphere to control the forming the size of the crystals.
Same with molding of composites in which it requires a pre-cut the material into sheets and lay out so it doe not have any wrinkles. This is actually a very difficult procedure since the material does not stretch and the material requires to be layed out in even thickness to create a 3D structure. This then requires to be baked in a vacuum.
According to the article you'll have to adjust the the size of crystal so you can't just weld it together. Same with composite materials.
Basically if it fails both would probably require a replacement.
As for molding again you' probably need a temperature controlled furnace in a complete controlled atmosphere to control the forming the size of the crystals.
Same with molding of composites in which it requires a pre-cut the material into sheets and lay out so it doe not have any wrinkles. This is actually a very difficult procedure since the material does not stretch and the material requires to be layed out in even thickness to create a 3D structure. This then requires to be baked in a vacuum.
broadsword
Brigadier
If they need to use autoclaves to form the titanium sheets, it will be disappointing.
SamuraiBlue
Captain
When you what to control the size of crystals within material then it can't be avoided.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
The conventional mining, extraction and fabrication of Titanium DOES NOT involve Autoclave at all. He is talking about reinforced fiberglass or carbon fiber that need curing
Here is excellent video how Titanium is extracted and fabricated
The use of Titanium as aircraft material is not new It has been use before successfully SR 71 spy plane use 85% titanium material in their structure and skin. The problem with Titanium is it expensive and hard to fabricate
It expensive because of the process that they use and high rejection rate . It is hard to fabricate because of extreme high temperature of melting. So in order to lower it they have to add alloy Here is an excellent excerpt from wiki
use of was limited by the costs involved; it was generally used only in components exposed to the highest temperatures, such as exhaust fairings and the leading edges of wings. On the SR-71, titanium was used for 85% of the structure, with much of the rest . To control costs, Lockheed used a more easily worked which softened at a lower temperature. The challenges posed led Lockheed to develop new fabrication methods, and have since been used in the manufacture of other aircraft. Lockheed found that washing welded titanium requires , as the chlorine present in tap water is ; -plated tools could not be used as they also caused corrosion. Metallurgical contamination was another problem; at one point 80% of the delivered titanium for manufacture was rejected on these grounds.
This is a good video about property of Titanium
What professor Wu proposed is to use nanotechnology to combine the best aspect of strength and ductility and at the same time lower the cost and ease of manufacturing using Nanotechnology
If I am not wrong Nanotechnology fabrication is akin to Pharmacy or drug manufacturing
A large scale vacuum furnace can be used for molding single piece units of titanium, and vacuum welding (as occurs in space) can be used to join pieces in a controlled fashion too. This would be easier than using a pressurized chamber to do the same sort of work.
SamuraiBlue
Captain
Vacuum is only part of the equation in controlling the size of crystallization, temperature control in cooling is actually the most important factor.
One can combine a vacuum furnace with a neutral gaseous convection system for controlled crystallization though.