The Property and Application of Titanium Metal

The Property and Application of Titanium Metal

The metal titanium has a density between aluminum and steel. It is the ninth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and the fourth most abundant structural metal. Titanium has the strength of alloyed steel and the density of aluminum.

Uses for titanium have expanded, based on its inherent properties as well as on the development of new alloys. The major use is still in airborne applications, such as engines, airframes, missiles, and spacecraft. Aerospace applications are based on the low density and high strength-to-weight ratio of alloyed titanium at elevated temperatures. The corrosion resistance of titanium makes it a natural material for use in seawater, marine, and naval applications. In addition, the use of titanium is extensive in seawater-cooled power plant condensers. Over 70 million m (200 million ft) of welded titanium tubing has been used in power plant surface seawater condensers with no corrosion-related failures.

Titanium is also extensively used in oil refineries, paper and pulp bleaching operations, nitric acid plants, and certain organic synthesis production.

Titanium has found use in the medical field. The largest use of titanium and titanium alloys as surgical implants has been for bone plates, screws, intramedullary rods, and hip nails. Partial and total joint replacements for the hip, knee, elbow, jaw, finger, and shoulder are commercially produced from unalloyed titanium and from the Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Unalloyed titanium heart valves and titanium mesh mandibular bone grafting trays are also available. The corrosion-resistant metal is used widely as a hermetically sealed container for pacemakers and as an encapsulating material for iodine-l25 interstitial implants used to treat various tumors. Titanium is also used to produce near-net shape components for body implants.