Titanium metal – things you know, things you don’t know, and some things that nobody knows

Due to the hype titanium metal has been surrounded with in the last years it very unlikely that you don’t know some of the most common properties of this metal. Anyone who deals with titanium can readily provide the traits that made it the glamour metal of the century.

Chances are that you already are in the possession of the

“10 facts everybody knows about the titanium metal” list

---

1. Titanium is as strong as steel, while weighing half as much.

2. Titanium corrosion resistance is unsurpassed by any other metal.

3. Titanium is completely hypoallergenic and physiologically inert.

4. Titanium dioxide is the most opaque white pigment in the world.

5. Titanium is twice as strong as aluminum.

6. Titanium is the 9th most abundant element in the earth's crust.

7. Titanium has no magnetic properties.

8. Titanium has a high melting point.

9. Some titanium alloys present shape memory properties.

10. Titanium has the highest strength to weight ratio of all metals.

I think that about sums up all the common knowledge about titanium metal. However, there is more to it. And here comes the

“10 facts you don't know about the titanium metal” list

---

1. Titanium is the one of the few elements that burns with nitrogen.

2. Titanium is the only metal that allows osseointegration.

3. Pure titanium dioxide has an index of refraction with an optical dispersion higher than diamond.

4. Titanium metal is never found in pure form in the environment.

5. Titanium becomes brittle if it’s hardened beyond a certain point.

6. Pure titanium is not soluble in water, but is soluble in concentrated acids.

7. Throughout the period of the Cold War, titanium was considered a Strategic Material by the U.S. government, and a large stockpile of titanium sponge was maintained by the Defense National Stockpile Center, which was finally depleted in 2005.

8. Titanium has a very low electrical and thermal conductivity.

9. An estimated 0.8 milligrams of titanium is ingested by humans each day, though but most passes through without being absorbed.

10. Water and carbon dioxide-based methods to extinguish fires are ineffective on burning titanium

And though titanium is rapidly becoming more on more utilized in industrial and commercial application, remember we’re still talking about a frontier, space-age material, that’s why, there are many things that we don’t know yet about it. I mean, we are aware of them, but we don’t have the required knowledge to explain the mechanism behind the processes.

“10 facts nobody knows about the titanium metal” list

---

1. Most plants contain about 1 part per million (ppm) of titanium metal, which may be used by an unknown mechanism to stimulate the production of carbohydrates and encourage growth.

2. When two pieces of titanium are pressed tightly together over a long period of time they have a tendency to fuse to each other.

3. Titanium welds, especially those of TI-6Al-4V alloy, have nearly 100% of the strength of the untouched material.

4. Exxon's Corporate Research Laboratories in Linden, New Jersey were the first to develop a lithium-titanium disulfide battery with an organic electrolyte.

5. Barium titanate, a titanium compound, is piezoelectric and can be used as a transducer for the conversion of sound and electricity.

6. The reaction of titanium tetrachloride with alcohols forms titanium esters which are used as waterproofing agents on fabrics.

7. Titanium dioxide coating has the ability to destroy the organic compounds which deposit on it, by a specific process which is activated by sun light.

8. A special titanium oxide ceramic is able to harvest sunlight and split water to produce hydrogen fuel.

9. Titanium dioxide has the capacity of intercepting neutrinos.

10. Titanium is the first metal that is machined using laser-engineered net shaping (LENS) – a method that forms metal parts by adding material rather than by the traditional methods of subtracting material by machining or laboriously hammering metal.

Return from Titanium metal to Titanium description
Return to Titanium Home Page