PM² Newsbytes - January 10, 2005

U.S. ARMY INVESTS IN TITANIUM P/M ARMOR PLATE

ADMA Products Inc., Hudson, Ohio, has won a three-year $4.9 million contract from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to commercialize the production of titanium P/M plates and armor. Potential applications of P/M products include the next generation of combat systems such as new tanks, armored personnel carriers, and heavy vehicles.

ADMA has received $1.1 million this year to convert prototype fabrication of titanium plate and modules with ceramic inserts into commercial production. Full-scale production is scheduled to begin in 2006, reports Vladimir Moxson, president. The company is installing a commercial direct powder rolling mill to make the plates in a new 20,000-square-foot plant completed in 2004. The modules will be made by hot pressing. ADMA will use lower-cost titanium powder supplied by International Titanium Powder, L.L.C. (ITP), Lockport, Ill. Founded in 1997, ITP makes titanium and alloy powders via the Armstrong chemical reduction process. Titanium and vanadium/aluminum titanium alloys are produced by reducing titanium tetrachloride. “ADMA has spent many years developing low-cost fabrication techniques that utilize titanium/titanium alloy powders,” Moxson says. For information contact him at moxson@admaproducts.com.