What is so special about titanium?

The source of titanium

Titanium is a rare metal.

In fact, titanium is not uncommon. It occupies seventh place in the earth’s crust, accounting for 0.45%,which is much higher than many common metals.

However, due to the lively nature of titanium and the high requirements of the smelting process, people have long been unable to produce a large number of titanium, which is classified as”rare”metal.

Pure titanium is a silver-white metal with many excellent properties. Titanium has a density of 4.54g/cm3, 43% lighter than steel and slightly heavier than the famous light metal magnesium. Mechanical strength is similar to steel,2 times larger than aluminum and 5 times larger than magnesium. Titanium is high temperature resistant.
Titanium is a metal with relatively active chemical properties. At room temperature, the surface of titanium can easily form a very thin and dense oxide protective film, can resist the role of strong acids and even aqua regia, showing strong corrosion resistance. As a result, ordinary metals become riddled with holes in acid, alkali and salt solutions, while titanium is safe.

Liquid titanium dissolves almost all metals,so alloys can be formed with a variety of metals.

Titanium steel, made by adding titanium to the steel, is tough and elastic.

Application of titanium

Titanium has a high strength, pure titanium tensile strength of up to 180kg/mm2. Some steels are stronger than titanium, but the ratio of specific strength to density of titanium alloys exceeds that of high-quality steels. Titanium alloy has good heat resistance, low temperature toughness and fracture toughness, so it is mainly used as aircraft engine parts and structural parts of rockets and missiles.
Titanium alloys can also be used as fuel and oxidant storage tanks and high pressure containers. Titanium has been used in the manufacture of automatic rifles, mortar seat plates and recoilless gun firing tubes. In the petroleum industry, it is mainly used in various containers,reactors, heat exchangers, distillation columns, pipes, pumps and valves.

Titanium can be used as an electrode and condenser in power stations and environmental pollution control devices. Titanium-nickel shape memory alloy has been widely used in instruments.
In medicine, titanium can be used as artificial bones and various utensils. Titanium is also a deoxidizer for steelmaking,but also a component of stainless steel and alloy steel. Titanium dioxide is a good raw material for pigments and paints. Titanium carbide,carbon (hydrogen)titanium is a new type of cemented carbide material.