Titanium is a very common natural element, indeed it is the 9th in abundance and forms the 0,6% of the Earth’s crust; therefore, during the last years, many deepened studies have pointed out its peculiar characteristics.
Room-temperature pure Titanium is a non- magnetic and ductile metal that could be deformed up to more than the 95% of its mass in various extra baking processes. His density degree is similar to light metals one and it has a superior electric modulus and basically the same mechanical properties of the inoxidable steels; that is why it is tipically considered an aeronautical and aerospace material.
The very first developement incentive comes from an exellent tensile strength and from the high proportion weight-resistance (mostly in specific alloys), which approximately endure to a temperature of 400°C. Moreover it is to note that the fundamental applications in chemical industry are possible thanks to a very high corrosion resistance level, given by the superficial formation of an oxide stratus, which results actually straider than inoxidable steel’s one.
In fact, even if it is corruptable by sulphuric and hydrochloric acid, it isn’t corroded by nitric acid, chlorine, strong alkali or sulphur derivatives.
Titanium has a hexagonal crystalline structure named “alpha” phase, that is from room-temperature to about 882°C. Above this temperature, the structure mutate in a cubic crystalline one, named “beta phase”. The relevance of this characteristic is related to the elements that are combined with Titanium, which differently modify the width in both phases, determinating variations in Titanium mechanical behave, depending almost constantly on different temperatures. Here we report the Titanium combinable elements ordered by the phases “alpha”, “beta” and “neutral”.
The various effects of the elements of each group assume particular rilief in the industrial alloys so, as a convenience, they are classified in “alpha”, “alpha-beta” and “beta” alloys, referring to the phase they have at room-temperature.
