You’ve seen titanium in a variety of industries, from jewelry to aerospace, but why is this metal taking off in popularity? Take a look at the properties that have made titanium a go to metal since its discovery and on through to today.
The second half of the 20th century was marked by an extensive
development of production of titanium. At the time, this metal was marked as
having a number of advantages, including wide availability and low cost, along
with unique properties. The world was predicting that titanium would have a
bright future and we were right.
Previous attempts have been made to apply the metal in other
areas of metalized industries, such as: shipbuilding, engine construction and
so on but those attempts failed. As it turned out, titanium has no simple
chemical and physical properties. In 1940, William Kroll offered to produce
titanium metal in the form of a sponge, by reducing titanium tetrachloride with
magnesium, but this method was very expensive and complicated. Still, in
developing this metal, Kroll incorporated titanium into a multi-billion industry
staple.
The advantages of this material, in terms of the
aluminum-magnesium alloy, are resistance, lightness and corrosion resistance
plus the thermal durability of the metal. By weight, in contrast to the other
traditionally used metals, titanium is about five times lighter. Because of
this, titanium is widely used in the aerospace industry as well as other
industries like medical, dental, aerospace, watchmaking, implantology and many others.
As the years pass, titanium has continued to become a much
needed metal, especially in certain areas like healthcare and space
exploration. The continued success of this metal along with the constant need
for it will make titanium a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
