Melting and Casting

Smelting: Usually, electron beam melting or vacuum arc melting methods are used to heat and melt high-purity tantalum raw materials under vacuum or inert gas protection to remove impurities and obtain high-purity and high-quality tantalum ingots.

Casting: Pour the melted tantalum ingot into a pre designed mold and solidify it under natural cooling or controlled cooling conditions to obtain the tantalum casting blank. The casting method can be selected according to the shape and requirements of the product, such as sand casting, precision casting, etc.

Pressure processing

Forging: After heating tantalum ingots or billets to an appropriate temperature, pressure is applied through a hammer or mold on a press machine to cause plastic deformation, improve the microstructure of tantalum, and enhance its strength and toughness. It can be used to manufacture large tantalum forgings, such as aviation engine blades.

Rolling: The tantalum billet is rolled on a rolling mill by the rolling action of the rolling mill to reduce its thickness and increase its length, which can produce tantalum plates, tantalum strips and other products. During the rolling process, it is necessary to control the parameters such as rolling temperature, speed and reduction to ensure product quality.

Stretching: For products such as tantalum wire and tantalum tube, stretching technology is often used. Thread the tantalum billet through the mold hole and reduce its diameter or aperture under the traction of the stretching machine, while improving its dimensional accuracy and surface smoothness. During the stretching process, appropriate lubrication and intermediate annealing treatment are required to prevent material fracture and improve processing performance.

Mechanical processing: Using cutting machines such as lathes, milling machines, drilling machines, etc. to cut tantalum billets to obtain precise dimensions and shapes. Due to the high hardness of tantalum, suitable tool materials and cutting parameters need to be selected during mechanical processing to improve processing efficiency and quality.

Special processing

Electric discharge machining: For tantalum workpieces with complex shapes and high precision requirements, electric discharge machining technology is used. By pulse discharge between the electrode and tantalum workpiece, material is removed to achieve high-precision shape machining, commonly used in manufacturing molds, microstructures, etc.

Laser processing: Utilizing the high energy density of laser beams for cutting, drilling, welding, and other processing of tantalum, it has the advantages of high processing accuracy, fast speed, and small heat affected zone. It can be used to manufacture various high-precision tantalum processed parts, such as tantalum components in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).