WPI Researchers Develop Process to Heat-Treat Powder from Recycled Scrap for Additive Manufacturing

Kyle Tsaknopoulos

Thomas Christiansen

Danielle Cote

A team of WPI researchers led by Danielle Cote has developed a process that heat-treats powder made from recycled titanium scrap to produce better properties when 3D printed with cold spray processing.

The researchers reported in the journal Surface and Coatings Technology that they were able to improve the density and quality of recycled titanium deposits on metal substrates by applying a unique heat treatment to the recycled titanium powder before processing it for additive manufacturing.

“Cold spray manufacturing represents an efficient way to produce new parts and restore damaged components, but certain titanium alloys and recycled scrap titanium can be difficult to work with in cold spray applications,” says Cote, the Harold L. Jurist ’61 and Heather E. Jurist Dean’s Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. “This research advances the ability to address that problem.”

Cold spray is an additive manufacturing process that uses inert gas to accelerate tiny metallic particles onto substrates at supersonic speeds. The particles deform and bond to create a strong coating or 3D material.

Titanium and titanium alloys are strong heat- and corrosion-resistant metals that are useful in aerospace and defense applications. That strength, however, also has made titanium difficult to use in cold-spray processes.

Cote’s lab focuses on the development of materials for additive manufacturing techniques, such as cold spray and wire arc manufacturing. In addition to Cote, authors on the paper were Assistant Research Professor Kyle Tsaknopoulos and Professor Thomas Christiansen, both of the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering; Kiran Judd, PhD ’24; and Caroline Dowling, MS ’25. The research was funded by the Office of Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program.