#3 - Technologies deliver the right parts

Titanium is a sought-after material in firearms and parts manufacturing because it’s lightweight, strong, corrosion resistant, and holds a high strength-to-weight ratio. TriTech Titanium Parts in Detroit, Michigan, has used titanium injection molding and titanium investment casting to make parts and accessories for firearms since launching in 2022. After working as the president of AmeriTi Manufacturing Co. for more than 30 years, Robert Swenson sold the company and spun off to create TriTech using connections he made in the titanium manufacturing industry. Now Swenson’s new company is making small parts for firearm manufacturers across the U.S.

“We didn’t acquire a business, our processes were developed and grown internally. We hired a few people that knew some things about investment casting and metal injection molding, so we developed all this process technology ourselves,” says Swenson, president and owner of TriTech Titanium Parts.

Using an Arburg injection press and an Elnik vacuum sintering furnace for their titanium injection molding operation and homebuilt equipment for their titanium investment casting operations, TriTech has been able to produce 30,000 to 50,000 parts a month for rifle scopes, mounting devices, suppressors, and more.

Injection molding

For injection molding, they begin with small titanium powders 20µm in diameter, mix it with a waxy, solvent-based polymer, heat it to a consistency of toothpaste or peanut butter, then mix it with an organic feedstock binder until it’s ready to be injected into a die. The material solidifies in the die and becomes hard, firm, and rigid, then it’s removed from the die as the exact shape of the finished part. TriTech starts removing about 50% of the binder in a solvent and sends the part to a sintering furnace which heats up to 600°F to burn off the remaining binder. Then the furnace heats up to 2,300°F to sinter the remaining titanium powder particles together for the finished part.

“The advantage is we’re producing a net shape part,” Swenson says. “Most of the parts we produce then ship to the customer. They may coat, they may anodize, they may do something to it. Rarely is there any subsequent machining.”

Investment casting, 3D printing

Known as the lost wax process, titanium investment casting enables TriTech to make a series of wax patterns the shape of the part and put them into what’s called a tree assembled onto a molten metal runner system. The wax patterns are covered with a refractory shell by being dipped into a slurry, the slurry dries and hardens, and the process is repeated until a shell is built around the wax patterns. The wax is then melted out and molten metal is poured into the tree. Once cast, the finished individual parts can be cut off the tree. Some parts may need to be machined to get certain features not possible in the investment casting process.

While there have been supply chain issues throughout all manufacturing, Swenson believes TriTech has been able to avoid any delays in production by using his connections in the titanium industry and because their processes use only a fraction of the material used in other industries and applications. Swenson knows titanium is one of the most sought-after materials in the firearms manufacturing industry.

“What titanium is known for is its strength-to-weight ratio. Titanium is a very strong material and it’s lightweight. It’s half the weight of steel, it’s heavier than aluminum, but in the case of aluminum, titanium is much stronger,” Swenson says. “The industry continues to do anything and everything it can to reduce the weight of that rifle or handgun. The corrosion resistance is important, too, because sometimes these rifles and devices get into some pretty tough environments.”

TriTech also uses additive manufacturing (AM) to round out the three technologies referenced in their company name. AM has been used for decades, but when used with titanium injection molding, TriTech has been able to cut production times dramatically. Building the tools or molds for injection molding can take months and become expensive. That’s not true with TriTech’s AM operation, which is continuing to grow and complement their other two manufacturing processes.

“The beauty of these AM processes is there are no tools, we get a solid model like a CAD model, and we can print a part,” Swenson says. “You could send us an email with a CAD model today, we can be printing a part tomorrow, and we can give you a part by the end of next week. AM is a great means of prototyping. With investment casting and metal injection molding, we can make some very good, complicated, sophisticated parts but there are parts you just can’t produce otherwise.”

He notes, however, that with the use of AM, the company produces parts with internal passages and lattice structures, an obvious advantage when producing extremely complex parts.

While TriTech doesn’t have in-house post-finishing processes, they do grit blast or bead blast to clean up the surface before sending parts out for a Cerakote, diamond-like coating (DLC), or anodizing. Swenson notes the surface quality of a metal injection molded part is as good or better than a machined product while the investment casting surface quality isn’t quite as good, and the company sometimes finds certain features on a casting that must be machined.

Best processes for best parts

Overall, Swenson notes that metal injection molding is probably the most common method for producing firearms, and TriTech adds to that process with their ability to produce net-shape parts with excellent surface quality. They’re corrosion resistant and lightweight, and ready for the customer to assemble into the final product.

With a fully domestic supply chain, TriTech Titanium Parts is a single-sourced manufacturing solution under one roof. The company’s broad manufacturing solutions can be used for small batch and large volume requirements for titanium part production, as well as rapid prototyping, to expedite product development and component testing as well as design and production decisions. The company can go quickly from prototype to production to meet tight launch schedules and first-to-market product requirements.

TriTech Titanium Parts https://tritechtitanium.com

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