Tantalum is a unique metal used in many specialist applications, so classifying it as a critical material.

Tantalum’s electrical properties make it a leading choice for the production of high-performance capacitors in critical electronics applications such as smartphones, electronic tablets, computers, the internet of things as well as wider electronic applications such as airbag deployment systems, brake control systems, and computer control systems in cars. The move towards electric vehicles is creating a stronger demand for higher performance Tantalum capacitors which requires Tantalum metal powder producers to innovate higher capacitance powders.

Metalysis’ USP with Tantalum is the ability to create high capacitance level powders – with Metalysis’ unique electrolysis process able to reach 150 kCV/g – meeting present and future market demand. Reaching this high capacitance level is where traditional capacitor powder providers fall short. Innate to the Metalysis process is control of morphology allowing production of high surface area material necessary to meet this high capacitance when converting Tantalum oxide to metal powder.

Tantalum is a great alternative to Titanium in additive manufacturing – 3D printing – as it has high biocompatibility, strength, corrosion-resistance and has elastic modulus properties similar to bone making it integral to 3D medical printing.

Tantalum powder is also integral to the manufacturing of the next generation of semiconductors – with Tantalum sputtering targets deploying a thin film of Tantalum onto silicon wafers.

Tantalum’s resistance to chemical corrosion and high melting-point making it a desirable choice for chemical plant equipment.

With Tantalum being a notoriously difficult element to alloy, the Metalysis process allows for the creation of a new generation of alloys for use in aerospace, nuclear energy, electronics and consumer use – particularly in the Metalysis high entropy alloy products.

We produce:

• Tantalum Pentoxide: Range of oxide powders inc. 99.99% purity

• Potassium Heptafluorotantalate, (K2TaF7): Range of products suitable for certain cap grade feedstock and met grade products

• Metal Powders: Range of products for AM, met grade, cap grade and high cv cap grade applications. Custom morphologies and surface areas available.

All Metalysis products are compliant with OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains.

Metal and alloy applications with Scandium have the potential to revolutionise the electronics, aerospace, defence, and wider advanced industries.

The historically high cost of scandium is fast reducing given recent development of mining in Canada, Australia and the US, but creating a unified and harmonised alloy is a challenge that traditional manufacturers cannot meet economically or technically.

Where conventional processing methods have struggled to obtain a high content Aluminium Scandium master alloy, Metalysis has demonstrated the ability to create a Scandium Tri-Aluminide (Al₃Sc) alloy with a Scandium loading of 36wt% (25 atom%), in the form of a powder, or sintered compact.

At these Scandium concentrations, the material can be employed as a master-alloy addition, being reduced to the desired level (e.g., 2% Sc) where required.

Adding a small amount of Scandium to Aluminium greatly improves the strength, hardness, weldability and corrosion resistance of Aluminium. The chief benefit of Al₃Sc for electronic applications is its high piezoelectric capabilities.  Adding Sc drastically improves the piezoelectric qualities of an Aluminium base alloy sputtering target which can be used for internal components such as coating semiconductor chips, sputtering targets for AI-enabled devices, microchips and 5G networks. Radio frequency filters based on Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW), rather than Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology, operate at higher frequencies and wider bandwidths, lending themselves to these 5G network applications.

Heat exchanger (HEX) innovations and micro-channel extrusions are an ideal commercial starting point for the uptake of new Al₃Sc alloys given that it is a consistently growing market and one that demands the reduction of wall thickness and weight alongside the increasing performance of high-pressure coolants, such as CO² – these are viable for the aerospace or automotive sectors particularly given the move to electric vehicles.

Due to its defined chemical composition the 36wt% Scandium containing Al₃Sc is a more consistent product than the 2wt% Aluminium-Scandium with respect to Scandium loading.

High Scandium content in the alloy results in lower shipping costs (and environmental footprint) as customers are not paying to transport cheaper Aluminium around the globe.

The master alloy can reduce to 0.5% for light-weight structural applications – with defined Scandium loadings being achieved throughout this new product – aerospace and UAV construction.

High Entropy Alloys (HEAs), or Complex Alloys, represent a major shift in alloying and the future of metals – not since the Bronze age has such a seismic opportunity in metal design and application occurred.  Traditionally, alloying consists of fusing one or two elements with smaller amounts of other components thus creating an alloy with one or two elements in the majority. A high entropy or complex alloy consists of usually 5 or more metals equally balanced throughout the new alloy meaning that the strengths and characteristics of all the metals are bought equally into the new material.  Dependent upon the metals used, this can increase the refractory nature of the new material, strength-to-weight ratio, fracture-resistance, strength, and corrosion-resistance.

The major hinderance to creating HEAs has been that materials have vastly different chemical and physical properties – e.g. the difference in melting point between Tantalum and Aluminium is 2,336 degrees Celsius.  The Metalysis solid-state reduction process, avoiding heavy melting and multi-stage processes, means it is possible to alloy 49 elements of the periodic table.  Metalysis has been working on a number of HEAs soon to come to market:

• Metalysis has experience at the R&D level in producing refractory HEAs to be used in aerospace and consumer tech – with 5 metal and with 6 metal HEAs.

• Metalysis is able to commercially produce at Gen 3 commercial unit level – tonnes of HEA output per year – with a first focus being on refractory HEAs.

• Metalysis refractory HEAs are 5-10% less dense giving fuel savings when used in aerospace.

• Metalysis off-the-shelf HEAs include Al20Mo10Nb20Ta10Ti20Zr20.

Metalysis has a number of years’ experience in Titanium metal powders and Titanium alloy powders.

Titanium-Aluminide (Ti-Al) is lightweight, resistant to oxidation, heat-resistant, but has low ductility. Ti-Al finds use in applications that require these qualities including aircraft construction, jet engines, sporting equipment and automotive. Ti-Al has three intermetallic compounds of which gamma Titanium-Aluminide has been the focus for Metalysis.

Titanium alloys are favoured for additive manufacturing for a range of reasons including their corrosion resistance and high strength-to-weight ratio.

Currently, the additive manufacturing (3D printing) industry is driving titanium demand, growing at ca. 30% per year. Grade 5 Ti-6Al-4V accounts for 50% of titanium powder usage globally. Our Titanium product extends beyond Gamma Ti-Al to a wide range of different alloy specifications and composition.

Given Metalysis’ work across Titanium metal and alloys, we are able to produce Titanium powder according to size, purity, morphology and its alloying elements producing various sizes down to below 100μm. The flexibility of product form allows our team to target a range of advanced powder metallurgy manufacturing methods that reduce material wastage.

Our processes can also produce Titanium alloys in the solid state that would be highly complex and expensive to manufacture using conventional melting techniques. This provides two significant opportunities:

• The process can produce master alloys or pre-alloyed feed for conventional ingot producers.

• Metalysis can develop novel alloys with improved performance that will expand the current market for titanium products.

Metalysis works with a range of commercial partners as well as participating in research projects to test the suitability of titanium powders for new high-end additive manufacturing applications and innovations.

Titanium and Titanium Alloys are a Gen 4 industrial product for Metalysis so will be an area of future focus.