Titanium Update Newsletter October 2012 Edition

DENVER, Oct. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Titanium Association (ITA), Northglenn, CO, has published the latest edition of its quarterly online newsletter ("TITANIUM Update"), dedicated to the global titanium industry. The publication can be accessed at www.titanium.org. The newsletter provides market trends and company news, job postings and classified ads, with dispatches from sources in North America, Asia and Europe.

Developments involving China topped news items posted in the current edition. Titanium Industries Inc. (TI), Rockaway, NJ, has expanded its Global Service Center Network to include Shanghai, China. Through this location, TI said it would be strategically positioned to service the growing aerospace, medical, industrial and oil and gas markets across the Asia/Pacific region. Heading up the operation is Sutton Chen, regional manager, China, and Alexis Zhu, regional sales manager, Shanghai. They will report to John Tien, TI's managing director, Asia.

Along with establishing the Shanghai site, TI has launched its supply chain optimization service known as "TI Materials Management."

TITAL GmbH will open a production facility in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, a city of 2 million inhabitants located 75 miles north of Shanghai. The new plant, which will operate under the name TITAL (Nantong) Co. Ltd. and manufacture investment-casting aerospace components, is expected to be online by the first quarter of 2013.

Philipp Schack, TITAL managing director, underlined the need to be a player in the strategic alliances unfolding between China and major aerospace companies of Europe and North America. "China's importance for the production of civil aircraft will strongly increase...and we do not want to stand outside," Schack said. Headquartered in Bestwig, Germany, TITAL specializes in titanium and aluminum investment casting.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian national science agency, has unveiled a system capable of boosting the speed of machining titanium components by up to 80 percent, which can reduce overall machining costs by as much as 50 percent.

The technology, called thermally assisted machining (TAM), uses heat from laser energy to soften the metal immediately in front of the cutting tool so that titanium is more easily removed. CSIRO said TAM reduces wear on cutting tools while boosting material-removal rates and feed speeds.

CSIRO, a consortium that includes Queensland-based SME Ferra Engineering, Lockheed Martin, RMIT University and CAST, is developing the TAM technology for an integrated production cell, which incorporates a movable laser head on a five-axis CNC milling machine. CSIRO plans to license TAM to builders of machining equipment. The technology can be adapted for machining parts made from titanium, titanium alloys, nickel-based superalloys and high-strength steels. CSIRO anticipates TAM will enhance Australian industry competitiveness in the global aerospace and automotive markets.

Orders for TITANIUM 2012 Conference proceedings held October 7-10, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia USA, sponsored by the ITA, are now being accepted. Registered delegates may download a copy of all conference presentations using the TITANIUM social media site.

A non-profit trade group established in 1984, the ITA's mission is to promote the use of titanium in industrial, commercial, medical and military applications, as well as advance ideas in research, design, metallurgy and engineering. More than 200 organizations and over 1,500 individuals make up the ITA's membership. The annual TITANIUM Conference and Exhibition is the group's signature industry event, which attracts companies, executives and stakeholders from throughout the world. Jennifer Simpson is the ITA's executive director.

Contact: Jennifer Simpson, Executive Director
Denver, Colorado USA
1-303-404-2221 Telephone
1-303-404-9111 Facsimile
[email protected] Email

SOURCE International Titanium Association