C-103 niobium powder reaches commercial spec: a supply step, not hardware
Published
What Metalysis reports: the UK powder maker says it has produced C-103, a niobium-hafnium-titanium alloy powder, to commercial specification. It makes the powder with its FFC electrolysis process, which reduces metal oxides rather than melting metals together. Oxygen content is stated as below 500 ppm, and the powder can be spheroidised in-house for additive manufacturing. The intended uses are rocket nozzles and thrust and combustion chambers, plus hypersonic, satellite propulsion and turbine parts. Why it matters for materials: C-103 is a refractory niobium alloy for high-stress rocket parts such as nozzles, and powder is the raw material for printing them. A different way of making powder can ease supply, since the company says its route is not constrained by hafnium metal, but it still needs hafnium oxide. Our take: a commercial specification applies to the powder, not to printed or qualified hardware; the release gives only the oxygen limit and says the full specification is available on request. No customers are named, and the market figures are unsourced: the stated growth rate of about 32% is higher than the 28% a year that $46m to $200m gives over six years (23% over seven, 34% over five), and the release gives no base year, source or method. Our niobium alloys page puts C-103 at 8.85 g/cm3 with a melting point of 2350 °C plus or minus 50, and a minimum yield strength, for fully recrystallised material, of 276 MPa at room temperature (tested in air) that falls to 124 MPa at 1093 °C and 55 MPa at 1371 °C (tested in vacuum) (Smiths High Performance). These are datasheet minimums, not values for powder or printed parts. What we would watch: the first printed C-103 parts with measured properties. What would you want in a powder spec?