South Boston, Virginia, September 18, 2026: Titanium producer IperionX has successfully validated its GenX™ continuous titanium production platform, marking a significant technical milestone in the company’s plans to expand domestic titanium production in the United States.
The validation was carried out through four production campaigns at IperionX’s commercial-scale system at its Virginia research and development facility. The company said the GenX™ furnace processed more than 500 kilograms of titanium powder over 41 hours, averaging approximately 12 kilograms per hour.
Sixfold Increase in Throughput
According to IperionX, the GenX™ system achieved six times the throughput volume of its batch HAMR™ system on a comparable operating-time basis.
The company also reported significant reductions in resource consumption. Power consumption was reduced by more than 75% per kilogram, while magnesium use fell by more than 45% and hydrogen consumption by more than 60% compared with batch HAMR™ processing.
GenX™ is designed to operate the company’s hydrogen-enabled, low-temperature HAMR™ process continuously rather than through repeated batch cycles. IperionX says this approach could improve equipment utilisation, reduce processing time and support the development of additional production capacity.
Titanium Powder Meets Quality Benchmarks
The validation also examined the oxygen content of the titanium powder produced during the campaigns.
IperionX reported that all valid spherical titanium powder samples met the more stringent ASTM Grade 23 oxygen specification. Seven of eight angular powder samples met the Grade 5 limit, while four also met the Grade 23 requirement. The company said further process refinements are expected to help angular powder consistently achieve the Grade 23 specification.
Next Phase Focuses on Industrial Scale-Up
IperionX plans to continue optimizing the GenX™ furnace during the fourth quarter of 2026. The company also intends to integrate the furnace into a complete titanium powder production line and undertake engineering and techno-economic studies for its first industrial-scale GenX™ production line.
The development comes as the United States seeks to strengthen domestic supply chains for strategic materials used in aerospace, defence, medical and industrial applications. IperionX is also developing continuous titanium processing technologies under a US$99 million U.S. Army SBIR Phase III contract, including work on industrial-scale titanium production capacity in Virginia.
The latest validation does not itself represent full commercial-scale production, but it provides IperionX with operating data for the next stage of engineering and scale-up.