Method for production of alloyed titanium welding wire

Abstract

A method for producing a weldable titanium alloy and/or composite wire. The method includes: a) forming a green object by blending particulates of titanium sponge with one or more powdered alloying additions and cold compacting the blended mixture and subjecting the blended mixture including lubricant to pressure; b) forming a work body of alloyed titanium by heating the green object in a protected atmosphere and holding the temperature for a period of at least 4 hours, and then hot working the green object at a temperature of less than 200° C. apart from the beta transition temperature of the titanium alloy and shaping the green object to obtain an elongated profile; and c) forming the welding wire by placing the elongated profile of the work body in a rolling mill having one or more rolls disposed in series.

1 . A weldable wire comprising:
 titanium sponge particles from the Kroll process which have been physically consolidated by cold compaction, extrusion and rolling without melting or encapsulation; and   one or more alloying elements homogeneously distributed in a titanium matrix.   
     
     
         2 . The weldable wire according to  claim 1 , wherein the wire contains less than 300 ppm N, 500 ppm C and 150 ppm H, and between 500 and 10000 ppm O. 
     
     
         3 . The weldable wire according to  claim 1 , wherein the particles from the Kroll process have a particle size fraction in the range of 0.5 and 10 mm. 
     
     
         4 . The weldable wire according to  claim 4 , wherein the particles have a particle size fraction that is between 0.5 and 3 mm. 
     
     
         5 . The weldable wire of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more alloying elements are obtained from at least one alloying additive that is able to alloy with titanium. 
     
     
         6 . The weldable wire of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one alloying additive comprises a powder with mean particle size in the range of 50 to 250 μm. 
     
     
         7 . The weldable wire of  claim 6 , wherein the at least one alloying additive is selected from the group consisting of: 60Al-40V and 35Al-65V. 
     
     
         8 . The weldable wire of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more alloying elements comprise at least one of Al and V. 
     
     
         9 . The weldable wire of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more reinforcing agents. 
     
     
         10 . The weldable wire of  claim 8 , wherein the reinforcing agents comprise refractory ceramics that do not completely dissolve in titanium at temperatures less than 1200° C.