Effects of Process Gas Pressure and Type on Oxygen Content in Sintered Titanium Produced using Jet-Milled Titanium Hydride Powders

Abstract

Titanium hydride powders are increasingly being used to produce titanium components via powder metallurgy processes due to their improvements in densification over titanium metal powders. Since the oxygen content plays a significant role in the mechanical properties of titanium alloys, understanding how powder preparation techniques, such as milling, affect the final oxygen content is key. In this work, titanium hydride powders were milled through jet milling using air, nitrogen, and argon gas at various processing pressures. The oxygen content in the sintered powders is shown to be mostly dependent on the specific surface area, which is mainly affected by the grinding pressure. The type of gas used was also found to have an effect on the oxygen content, but the dependence was small.