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Q: How do you extract titanium? Q: How do you test aircraft grade titanium? Q: What's titanium like? Q: What's titanium used for? Q: Where does titanium come from? Q: Why is titanium used as a material of construction? Q: What are some examples of applications using Titanium? Q: Is Titanium autoclaveable? Q: How strong is Titanium? What's titanium like? Think "strong, light, and rustproof" and you have the essence of what makes titanium so important. It's a brilliant all-round material—similar to aluminum but very much stronger and quite a bit heavier. Like aluminum, titanium is a silvery-weight metal that resists corrosion (rusting): that's because it reacts readily with oxygen and forms a protective layer of titanium oxide that keeps out air and water. Titanium also resists attack by strong acids and alkalis. It's relatively hard and brittle when it's cold and you have to heat it up to work it into shape or draw it into wires. In chemical reactions, it forms lots of interesting compounds (when atoms of titanium bond to atoms of other elements); it also forms some extremely useful alloys (when titanium metal is "mixed" with other metals to combine their useful properties). What's titanium used for? Titanium compounds and alloys have a huge range of applications, from the manufacture of toothpaste, false teeth, and wedding rings to the development of artificial hip joints and deep-diving submarines. Perhaps the best-known use of titanium is in the compound titanium dioxide (TiO2 also known as titanium white), which is one of the whitest substances known. Over 95 percent of the titanium we consume is used in titanium dioxide, which puts the whiteness in everything from paints, toothpastes, and paper to porcelain ceramics, floor coverings, and textiles. Photo: These eyeglass frames made from a nickel-titanium alloy were developed for aircraft crew at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. They're called shape memory frames because you can bend them and they'll spring straight back to shape. Photo by courtesy of US Defense Visual Information Center. Arguably titanium's use as a whitener is a trivial—if economically very important—use for such a versatile material, because it doesn't really matter what color our toothpaste and paint is: we could live without such things, if we really had to. But could we live without the titanium alloys that are used to make airplane parts? In some modern planes, titanium has been used in everything from the outer "skin" and the landing gear to the hydraulic pipes and the innermost parts of the jet engines (because it's light and good at withstanding high-temperatures and the stresses and strains caused by friction when air moves through at supersonic speeds). Since titanium is so useful in airplanes, it's not surprising it's used in spacecraft too. And what about medical items made from titanium—could we live without those? Many people have strong but flexible eyeglasses made from titanium alloys. Thanks to its protective oxide coating, titanium is a perfect metal for making things like replacement hip joints because it won't rust or react adversely with tissue or bone. The same quality makes it ideal for lining food manufacturing equipment. You can probably see that strength, lightness, and an ability to resist rusting in seawater for years on end also makes titanium a perfect construction material for submarines. Titanium and its compounds are also important in the manufacture of other chemicals. Titanium chlorides are used as catalysts (accelerators that speed up chemical reactions) in the manufacture of plastic polypropylene and many other organic (carbon-based) chemicals. If all that sounds a bit mundane, how about jewelry made from titanium? There's a gem called titania that's made from titanium oxide. It's even more brilliant than diamond, though it's much softer, so less useful. Wedding rings made from titanium are also increasingly popular. Where does titanium come from? Although similar in many ways to aluminum, titanium is somewhat less common. While aluminium is the third most abundant element in Earth's crust, titanium ranks only ninth. Even so, it's still found in virtually all rocks, sands, soils, and clays, as well as in plants, animals, and water. Like aluminum, titanium's readiness to react with oxygen means it is never found on Earth as a pure metal. Instead, it has to be made from mineral ores called ilmenite (a complex compound of iron, titanium, and oxygen with chemical formula FeTiO3) and rutile (mostly titanium dioxide, a compound of titanium and oxygen with chemical formula TiO2) using a series of chemical reactions that can be difficult and costly. Photo: There's even titanium on the Moon. This false-color photo is a composite of 15 images taken by the Galileo spacecraft. Areas colored blue are richer in titanium than those colored orange or red. The deep blue, titanium-rich patch on the right is Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) where Apollo 11 landed in 1969. Photo courtesy of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA-JPL). Most titanium is now made by the Kroll process, in which titanium dioxide is reacted with chlorine to form titanium tetrachloride, which is then reacted with magnesium to strip away the chlorine and leave behind the pure metal (known as titanium "sponge"). The sponge is then cast into large bars called ingots. Q: Where does titanium come from? A: Titanium is the 9 th most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is found in Asia, North America, South America, Africa, Australia. Q: Why is titanium used as a material of construction? A: Titanium is the choice of MRI, NMR, bio-medical, diagnostic imaging, PET-CT and high Tesla Magnet manufacturers because it is non-ferrous and therefore, non-magnetic. It also provides excellent resistance to corrosion; a superior strength-to-weight ratio, superior erosion resistance, and high heat transfer efficiency. Q: What are some examples of applications using Titanium? A: MRI NMR Magnets Bio-Medical Diagnostic Imaging PET-CT High Tesla Magnets Jet Engines Bicycles Piping Systems Aircraft Frames Golf Clubs Lacrosse Sticks Artificial Hips & Knees Automotive Components Watches Heart Valves Jewelry Wheel Chairs Pace Makers Heat Exchangers Baseball Bats Dental Implants Eye Glass Frames Metal Matrix Composites Automotive Springs Automotive Exhaust Systems Motorcycle Parts Tools Race Car Engine Components Chemical Processing Equipment Spinal Reconstruction Maxillofacial Reconstruction Marine/Shipbuilding Equipment and Systems Pharmaceutical and Food Processing Equipment Q: Is Titanium autoclaveable? A: Titanium itself is autoclaveable for lab uses. However, our screwdriver handles and plastic T-handle wrenches will not hold up to the process. For autoclaveable purposes we suggest the formed screwdrivers, or the formed key T-handle wrenches. Q: How strong is Titanium? A: We use only finest grade of titanium that applicable for tool production—6AL-4V, which has a tensile strength of 150,000 psi. http://www.imprex.net/faqs.html http://www.explainthatstuff.com/titanium.html |