A New Frontier for Metal Manufacturing for Defense & Aerospace
Titomic Kinetic Fusion could be used to form titanium, refractory metals, and other alloys without thermal distortion.TITOMIC LIMITED
At a Glance
The low-temperature process helps preserve material properties.
It can be used to create large parts quickly.
it also allows for heterogeneous coatings and use of various powder types.
Titomic Kinetic Fusion is a solid-state process, involving high-velocity particle impact, where the particles deform plastically and bond metallurgically and mechanically upon impact without metal melting, Jim Simpson, CEO and managing director of Titomic Limited, recently explained to Design News. Titomic is targeting the defense, aerospace, maritime, oil-and-gas, and nuclear industries as well as infrastructure areas such as bridges, shipyards, and oil rigs, for Titomic Kinetic Fusion.
“The interesting aspect of this approach is that we can go from prototype to production quickly because we're using the same capabilities,” Simpson said. “There's no change in the machines. There's no change in the properties. We use the same CAD drawings.”
Because the technology operates at relatively low temperatures, it allows the use of hard-to-process metals like titanium, refractory metals, and other alloys without thermal distortion or residual stresses. These are typical problems with conventional methods, such as traditional welding or metal-melting-based additive manufacturing.
In the case of titanium, one of the most used metals in the defense industry, Simpson said most other approaches heat up the material. “When they heat up the material, the material then weakens, because it goes through a phase change,” he said, noting that this lessens material properties.
Titomic Kinetic Fusion can create products such as pressure vessels from titanium that are typically 25% lighter than those made using traditional processes because the material has not been heated, Simpson said. Additionally, he said that because Titomic Kinetic Fusion does not heat the material, it does not warp or thermally distort, so the part can be very close to near net shape.
Time savings is another advantage that the technology provides, Simpson said, when compared with investment casting, where the mold has to be built and time for the forging to take place has to be scheduled.
Titomic Kinetic Fusion can also be used for large parts. “We just built the largest cold-spray titanium part in the world, 178 kilograms, and that part took us less than 72 hours,” he said. “We're able to deposit powder onto a mandrel or a substrate as fast as 20 kilograms per hour.”
Heterogenous coatings are possible with Titomic Kinetic Fusion, meaning that it can use mixed powders of various disparate metals and they do not fuse together, but rather keep their own properties. “That's very unique,” Simpson said. “We can mix ceramics with metals; we can create refractory metals with more malleable metals.”
Unlike other methods, the technique does not require particles to be spherical. “We can use recovered metal titanium, we can use sponge titanium, we can use asymmetric titanium, as well as the spherical,” he said. “So, there are economic savings, as far as the different types of powders we can utilize.”
Currently, Titomic is building a thrust chamber for a missile application for a large defense prime contractor. “We're doing some very unique coating and protective work for commercial aircraft and some of the maintenance and repair organizations,” Simpson said.
Titomic focuses on providing services and production, rather than selling its machines, because the machines require substantial training and knowledge. “We can do coatings, we can do repairs, all the way up to building products,” Simpson explained. “And I think that's really important to have that whole spectrum.”
Titomic’s recent partnership with NuForj aims to help accelerate commercialization of Titomic Kinetic Fusion. “NuForj has expertise in showcasing breakthrough technologies, which can accelerate our visibility and customer engagement in North America and beyond,” he said.
In June 2025, the company held an official ribbon cutting of its new U.S. facility in Huntsville, AL.