Titanium

Abstract

Titanium can be considered a god among metals. Like the Titans of Greek mythology, deities of incredible strength, alloys made of titanium are extremely durable and can be very strong. Thus, in 1795 the Austrian chemist Martin Klaproth (1743–1817) named the metal after these deities. Like most pure metals, the pure silvery gray pure metal is relatively soft, but titanium alloys such as Ti-3%Al-8%V-6%Cr-4%Zr-4%Mo can be very strong (yield strength of 1100 MPa) and because of the relatively low density of titanium (4500 kg/m³), they have a much better specific strength (strength/density) than many steels. Titanium and its alloys are also resistant to oxidation and corrosion. Perversely, the resistance to degradation arises because titanium is very reactive and rapidly forms adherent titanium dioxide, TiO₂, which prevents further environmental attack on the underlying metal.