Norsk Titanium’s Metal 3D Printing Tech Receives $25 Million Boost

Michael Molitch-Hou posted 2016-07-05

Norwegian company Norsk Titanium (NTi) has received a significant financial boost to the expansion of its rapid plasma deposition (RPD) technology. After being guaranteed $125 million in the 2016 New York state budget, NTi has secured $25 million in an investment round led by Piper Jaffray.

NTi’s RPD process is a form of direct energy deposition in which a titanium alloy wire is melted with a plasma arc at a rate of 6 kg/h within an inert argon gas chamber. The process is also described as being monitored 2,000 times per second for quality assurance. Printed to near-net shape, the parts are then machined to their final shape. This process, the company suggests, can reduce waste and costs by 50 to 75 percent, compared to traditional manufacturing.

NTi’s MERKE IV machine is reportedly capable of producing 22 metric tons of finished parts per year. (Image courtesy of NTi.)
According to the company, NTi now produces 22 metric tons of finished parts per year and is on the fourth generation of its RPD machine, the MERKE IV. To further NTi’s capacity to manufacture these machines, Piper Jaffray led an investment round, including $10 million in equity from Insight Equity Holdings LLC, $10 million in growth debt facility from Harbert European Growth Capital Fund I and $5 million in equity from other investors.

NTi has already made some pretty substantial deals with Alcoa and, as previously mentioned, the state of New York. In the case of Alcoa, the company received $60 million to expand its R&D center, while New York allotted $125 million to NTi to build a manufacturing facility in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Much of what NTi’s technology has produced is under wraps, but the company is having its RPD process validated by the aerospace industry, including parts that have been machined by Airbus subsidiary Premium AEROTEC. NTi has also opened a new 3D printing facility in Oslo, Norway, so we may see some of the parts produced by the company make their way into the mainstream supply chain sometime soon.