Titanium Uses In Industry
Despite the fact that the commercial production of Titanium has only been possible in the last sixty years and then only by a complex and expensive process, it's unique properties have resulted in advances in technology, aviation, marine, medicine and the many other applications that we now take for granted but may not have been possible or be as efficient by using an alternative.A promising new development known as the FFC Cambridge Process may result in producing Titanium at a lower cost than the original Kroll process that is still in use to this day.
The Properties of Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti.
It has a silvery white metallic lustre when pure.
It is as strong as steel but is only just over half its weight and is twice as strong as aluminium.
Titanium based alloys have very high strength-to-weight ratios.
Titanium is ductile, malleable, wieldable and easily worked.
It is obtainable in a number of formats that include wire, sheet, rod, foil, granules, sponge and powder.
It has an extremely low response to magnetism.
Titanium has a very low electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity.
Titanium is highly corrosion resistant, it is impervious to seawater, chlorine and a broad range of acids, unless concentrated, and alkalis.
Titanium burns in air and is one of the very few elements to burn in Nitrogen (it makes great fireworks!)
The metal is physiologically inert and non-toxic. i.e. it has no effect on the human or animal body.
It is the ninth most plentiful element present in the Earths crust. It has been found in meteorites and detected in the sun and class M stars.
Approximately 90% of worldwide usage is in the form of Titanium alloys or Titanium compounds Titanium Applications
The Apollo 17 moon mission brought back rocks containing Titanium compounds.
Titanium Applications.
Titanium is recognized as a critical strategic metal for its' importance to the military.
During the cold war the Soviet Union, a producer of Titanium, used the metal and its' alloys as the principal material in the construction of its submarine fleet as it is impervious to seawater.
Titanium and its' alloys are used in the manufacture of armored vehicles, military aircraft including stealth planes, naval applications, ordnance and spacecraft.
Titanium Dioxide is widely used in paint, paper, plastics, toothpaste and cement for its intense whiteness, permanency, excellent covering properties and the ability to add strength to the product.
It is recognized for its ability to alloy with other metals to improve their strength durability and lightness.
Titanium alloys are an essential component in the skins of wide body aircraft, landing gear and hydraulic tubing. A Boeing 777 uses 58 tons of the metal and the Airbus A380 is projected to use 67 tons and a further 10 tons in the engines.
Heat exchangers in desalination plants rely on Titanium for its non-corrosion properties and it is even used in heater-chillers in aquariums.
It is an effective catalyst in a number of commercially important chemical processes.
Because it does not react unfavorably with the human body and has a benign
connectivity with bone that is not fully understood, Titanium is used for orthopaedic implants, artificial heart pumps, pacemakers, joint replacement and dental implants.
Its use in medicine also encompasses surgical instruments and those used in image-guided surgery and magnetic resonance imagery.
Titanium is used in some construction projects and associated applications such as the 150-foot high Yuri Gagarin memorial in Moscow, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and others.
The petroleum industry is a user for its off shore activities and pipe lines.
On a more mundane level, the metal and its alloys can be found in many every day consumer applications including; - tennis rackets, golf clubs, camping equipment, divers accessories, spectacle frames (also shape memory frames), food processing, sky writing, artificial gemstones, sweet and candy coatings, bicycles, computer components, sports safety helmets, watches, jewelry and many others.
There seems no limit to the future uses of this extraordinarily versatile metal, particularly if the FCC Cambridge Process successfully reduces the expense and complexity of producing the metal to add cost effectiveness to its' recognized unique properties.
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