Titanium Processing
Technology, Methods, & Facts
titanium processing, the extraction of titanium from its ores and the preparation of titanium alloys or compounds for use in various products.
Titanium (Ti) is a soft, ductile, silvery gray metal with a melting point of 1,675 °C (3,047 °F). Owing to the formation on its surface of an oxide film that is relatively inert chemically, it has excellent corrosion resistance in most natural environments. In addition, it is light in weight, with a density (4.51 grams per cubic centimetre) midway between aluminum and iron. Its combination of low density and high strength gives it the most efficient strength-to-weight ratio of common metals for temperatures up to 600 °C (1,100 °F).
Because its atomic diameter is similar to many common metals such as aluminum, iron, tin, and vanadium, titanium can easily be alloyed to improve its properties. Like iron, the metal can exist in two crystalline forms: hexagonal close-packed (hcp) below 883 °C (1,621 °F) and body-centred cubic (bcc) at higher temperatures up to its melting point. This allotropic behaviour and the capacity to alloy with many elements result in titanium alloys that have a wide range of mechanical and corrosion-resistant properties.
Although titanium ores are abundant, the high reactivity of the metal with oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen in the air at elevated temperatures necessitates complicated and therefore costly production and fabrication processes.
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