GEFERTEC launches arcTitan WAAM system with sealed inert-gas chamber for titanium production

GEFERTEC has introduced arcTitan, a wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) platform engineered specifically for titanium processing. The system pairs a fully enclosed inert-gas build chamber with a plasma-based WAAM process, holding oxygen levels to 10-15 ppm inside the chamber to limit contamination during deposition. Specs include a 2000 x 700 x 1000 mm build envelope and deposition rates up to 3 kg/h, with gas management, sensor technology, wire feeding, and process parameters all tailored to titanium rather than adapted from a general-purpose platform. Managing Director Johannes Zuckschwerdt said reproducible process conditions were the central design target.

Titanium's reactivity with oxygen and nitrogen at welding temperatures has long forced large-format WAAM users into compromises between shielding rigor and deposition speed, a gap that has kept wire-arc titanium out of some qualified aerospace and energy production despite DED's cost advantage for near-net-shape metal buildup on large parts. By building the chamber and process control around titanium's contamination sensitivity from the start, GEFERTEC is targeting the reproducibility question directly rather than treating it as a secondary constraint on a steel- or aluminum-first machine. GEFERTEC names aerospace and energy as the intended customer base, both sectors where new titanium processes face heavy qualification scrutiny before entering serial production.