New Progress in R&D Of Titanium Alloy Strips And Foils

In the field of aerospace materials, an important project on the development of high-temperature metal foils has recently made a remarkable technological breakthrough. The project, jointly hosted by Chongqing Sanhang New Materials Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. and the New Metal Materials and Near-Net Forming Technology Team of Chongqing Science and Technology Center of Northwestern Polytechnical University, is a key XX project supported by Chongqing Science and Technology Bureau in 2022 - "Aerospace High-Temperature Metal Foil Material Development and Application ".
The project mainly focuses on the preparation technology of high-temperature titanium alloy sheets and foils such as TC4 and Ti2AlNb, and has successfully broken through the high-quality preparation and production technology of high-performance titanium alloy sheets and foils. In the process of project implementation, the team closely combined with the actual needs of the relevant application units in the aerospace field, realizing the deep integration of industry, academia and research and joint research.

As an important material for lightweight, high-strength and high-temperature-resistant structural components in aerospace vehicles, titanium alloy sheet and foil have been widely used in honeycomb panels, sandwich panels and other components. With the design concept of hypersonic vehicle and the growth of development demand, the performance of titanium alloy sheet and foil has put forward higher requirements. For this reason, the project team selected TC4 and Ti2AlNb alloys as the research object, and through the breakthrough of key technologies such as temperature-controlled rolling and controlled rolling and cooling, significantly optimized the rolling process of alloy sheet and foil, significantly improved their organizational properties, and enhanced the manufacturing level.
The research and development results have filled the gaps of high-temperature and high-strength titanium alloy sheet and foil in the thickness range of 0.08~0.5mm in China, and provided the aerospace industry with titanium alloy sheet and foil of higher strength, thinner thickness, and better high-temperature service performance. These high-performance titanium alloy sheets and foils can not only be used in the aerospace field, but can also be expanded to the aerospace electronic components cladding materials, cell phone folding screen and hydrogen fuel cell bipolar plate and other fields, showing a broad application prospects.
In particular, the application of high-temperature titanium intermetallic compound Ti2AlNb alloy sheet and foil can increase the operating temperature of key components such as aerospace vehicle skin and rudder wing from the existing 600℃ to 850~900℃, providing an important material basis for the development of a new generation of hypersonic vehicles.
In the future, based on the development results of the high-performance titanium alloy sheet and foil in this project, the project team will continue to carry out in-depth pilot test demonstration and engineering application work, and gradually promote the industrial cultivation and incubation of the relevant titanium alloy sheet and foil in order to realize batch production, and make greater contributions to promoting the development of China's aerospace field.