Titanium (Ti) is a silver-white excessive metal, characterized by light weight, high strength, metallic luster, and good corrosion resistance. Because of its stable chemical properties, high temperature resistance, low temperature resistance, strong acid resistance, strong alkali resistance, as well as high strength, low density, it is often used to manufacture rockets and spacecraft, and even gained the reputation as "space metal".
Titanium is considered to be a rare metal because it is dispersed in nature and difficult to extract. It can be fused into alloys with other elements such as iron, aluminum, vanadium or molybdenum to produce light alloys with high strength. It has a wide range of applications in various aspects. Including aerospace (jet engines, missiles and space vehicles), military, industrial processes (chemical and petroleum products, seawater desalination and paper), automobiles, agricultural food, medicine (prosthetics, orthopedic transplants and dental instruments and fillers), sporting goods, jewelry and mobile phones and so on, the application range is very wide.
Titanium mechanical properties similar to stainless steel, can use the same device grinding, heating for a long time, will form a layer of black very hard shell, must be used carbide tools can be ground, but in drilling, cutting aspects, titanium processing will not be more difficult than stainless steel. Even so, titanium has not completely replaced iron and aluminum, mainly because production costs are still higher than those of the other two, and there are still many challenges to be overcome in casting, purification and processing.
Titanium has small specific gravity, high strength, high heat resistance and strong corrosion resistance. Its mechanical strength is similar to that of steel, but its density is smaller than that of steel (titanium density is 4.54 g/cm3, steel density is 7.9 g/cm3). It can form alloys with a variety of metals.
Another important property of titanium is that it retains its strength when heated to 537 degrees Celsius, and titanium alloys can be heated to 650 degrees Celsius. When the temperature is around 315 degrees Celsius, the strength of magnesium and aluminum alloys has plummeted, while titanium can withstand such high temperatures without reducing mechanical strength. Therefore, titanium and titanium alloys are widely used in the aviation industry to make jet engines, as well as the body and parts of aircraft and rockets.
