Titanium - a raw material with many specific advantages

Pure titanium is a silvery-white metal, extracted mainly from sand. It is present in the earth's crust at a level of 0.6 %, in the form of oxide ore, either as Rutil or as Anatas or together with iron oxide, but unevenly distributed. The largest deposits of the above mentioned ores and sand are to be found in Australia, India, Japan, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Russia and Norway.
The transition to industrial production and application of titanium in the fifties required new techniques. At first chloride and coke were used to produce titan tetrachloride, from which porous titan sponge is produces by means of reduction with pure magnesium or natrium in an argon field. This is smelted to a compact slab in an arc furnace. The compact slab is necessary to allow further processing. The tendency of titanium to absorb oxygen, nitrogen and carbon at high temperatures, results in considerable technical difficulties during production. Consequently, the final production of titanium, using such a long series of energy-intensive processes, results in the high cost of the raw material. The unusual combinbation of properties however, makes titanium a much desired material and one of the most valuable supplements of high-alloy, rust resistant steels. As a result of its low density, its high strength and its high level of corrosion resistance, in numerous media, titanium is today indispensible in a number of modern high-tech industries.
As Ti02 exists in abundance and given that repair costs will continue to rise, it can safely be assumed that titanium products will prove themselves to be more economical in many areas and therefore their applications will increase.
Titanium, in its pure form, is generally graded in four to five qualities, with increasing strength depending on the differing content of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen. The strength range corresponds largely to that of the different steels and in principle the same production processes may be used.