Titanium is a considerable expense for aircraft manufacturers like Chicago-based Boeing. Recently, Boeing was striving to reduce the cost of the 787 Dreamliner and 3D printing company Norsk Titanium AS supplied the company with 3D printed parts. It is believed that the part manufacturing collaboration could reduce the cost of the Dreamliner by as much USD $3 million per plane.
Reduced cost of titanium parts has proven to be possible through Norsk Titaniums Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) process. During the process, titanium wire is fed into a set of plasma torches, which are protected by a cool argon environment. Boeing worked in close collaboration with Norsk Titanium in the design and development of the components.