In the following article, you'll learn the fundamental aspects of titanium as a material. What is titanium, where does it come from, since when has it been known, and what is it used for? How are its incredible properties utilized in engineering and even medicine?
Titanium is a natural material, chemical symbol Ti - one of the natural elements found in the Earth's crust. Theoretically, it's quite common as it's among the 10 most abundant elements in the Earth's crust - however, it doesn't occur naturally in pure form. Being highly reactive, it combines with other elements, and the only way to obtain usable titanium is through mining and refining its ore. This isn't an easy process, which is why only certain countries specialize in titanium production. It's therefore a rare and expensive material, despite its widespread occurrence in the Earth's crust.
As an element, titanium was discovered accidentally by an English chemist in 1791, who was examining black sand found in a river in southern England. This led to the discovery of a previously unknown metal oxide, now known to be titanium. Several years later, it was given its proper name, inspired by the Titans of Greek mythology.
It wasn't until 1910 that Ti was first isolated, but there still wasn't an effective and affordable processing method. Thus, industrial production wasn't possible.
Mass production technologies for titanium were properly developed only after World War II - and it wasn't until the 1950s that more widespread titanium production began. This was when its advantages became recognized, particularly in aviation, military applications, and the slowly developing space industry. Titanium proved to be extremely durable, corrosion-resistant, strong, and yet lightweight. Soon after, titanium found applications in medicine, especially as a non-degradable material that could even be used to make heart valve components.
First and foremost is its incredible strength, particularly its corrosion resistance - even under highly damaging conditions. This allows it to be used even with water containing high salt concentrations or with aggressive acids.
Along with its amazing strength, titanium has another property that gives it an advantage over steel. Its density is 4.5 g/cm³ - meaning titanium is lighter than steel.
It's also resistant to high temperatures - with a melting point of 1668°C. Under natural conditions, it would be extremely difficult to melt or damage.
The disadvantages of titanium as a material are its limited availability and high price.
Titanium differs in appearance from steel - it's silvery-gray, often shiny, sometimes close to slate gray. You definitely can't mistake Ti for steel components.
In the context of heat exchangers, titanium has become an extremely important material for applications with aggressive media - conditions where stainless steel would still be inadequate. Titanium heat exchangers are therefore used wherever highly corrosive media are present.
In pool technology, they're used for heating saltwater pools and pools with added salt. They're employed for heating therapeutic brine baths and exclusive seawater pools that we sometimes find in resort areas.
Titanium is primarily produced in countries with large reserves of its ores, mainly ilmenite and rutile. The titanium production process is complex and expensive, so it takes place in specialized facilities, and the country must possess the appropriate technologies.
As you can see, the countries mining titanium ore aren't always the same ones capable of processing it and delivering it to market in ready-to-use form. The Ti refining process is quite difficult because titanium reacts very easily with oxygen and must be processed in an oxygen-free atmosphere, for example using the Kroll method. This makes production more expensive than, say, iron smelting - and this makes titanium one of the most expensive materials, often 2-3 times more expensive than steel.
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