IperionX and Carver Pump Test Powder-Manufactured Titanium Components for Navy Pump Systems

Supply chain disruptions hit shipbuilding particularly hard, as many assemblies are sourced from a small number of strictly qualified suppliers. This also applies to pump systems on U.S. Navy surface vessels, where corrosion-resistant titanium components are often procured via conventional casting and forging routes. IperionX has now announced a project with the Carver Pump Company aimed precisely at addressing these long lead times: Carver Pump has placed an initial order for titanium prototypes.

Technically, IperionX relies on U.S.-produced titanium metal powder and an in-house manufacturing chain that spans from powder to finished part. The goal is to economically produce replacement parts for mission-critical pumps and then test them. The project has thus moved from the planning phase into the prototyping phase, which IperionX also attributes to stable powder production at its recently commissioned facility in Virginia.

The background is pragmatic: titanium is used in maritime environments because of its strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and resistance to aggressive media. At the same time, sourcing cast titanium components is complex; IperionX points to lead times of often more than twelve months for critical pump parts. This can delay maintenance and new builds if replacements are not available in time.

Within the project, each titanium component is intended to be manufactured in less than one week. Which specific process chain will be used remains undisclosed; however, “modern manufacturing capabilities” and IperionX’s proprietary sintering technologies are cited. For a technically savvy audience, the key question will be how reliably this approach can reproduce component properties that in shipbuilding are typically assured through material testing, corrosion and fatigue tests, and non-destructive evaluation methods.

Anastasios (Taso) Arima, CEO of IperionX, said: “The partnership with Carver Pump highlights how IperionX’s advanced titanium technologies can help solve some of the most urgent supply chain challenges facing the U.S. defense industry, including titanium castings and forgings. Moving from lead times measured in years to timelines measured in days allows us to better support the timely construction and maintenance of naval vessels and directly improve fleet readiness. We look forward to validating this capability in the prototyping phase and, together with Carver Pump and the U.S. Navy, advancing scalable and sustainable production programs.”