In products related to titanium materials, the words "titanium steel", "pure titanium" and "titanium alloy" can be seen everywhere, from jewelry and water glasses to aerospace and medical implants. But many people will be misled by the name, thinking that titanium steel contains titanium, pure titanium and titanium alloy are just different in purity, in fact, the three are very different in composition, performance, and application. Today, let's completely dismantle the difference between these three, so that you can buy titanium products and no longer step on the pit!
Titanium steel: with the word "titanium", but it has nothing to do with titanium half a dime
Let's start with a key point: titanium steel does not contain titanium at all, it is a commercial marketing name, not an academic formal term.
The essence of titanium steel is 316L stainless steel (standard grade 022Cr17Ni12Mo2), the core component is iron, and with chromium, nickel, molybdenum and other elements, the "titanium" in the name is just a gimmick of the merchant. The reason why there is this name is nothing more than to distinguish it from ordinary stainless steel, raise the added value of products, and let jewelry and other goods sell at a better price.
Pure titanium: The main force of real titanium, high purity and good toughness
Titanium is the real titanium core material, the raw material for titanium products, and the titanium material that we come into contact with more every day.
Its upstream raw material is titanium sponge, which is made of titanium tetrachloride by magnesium reduction, but titanium sponge is loose and porous, low strength, and cannot be used directly, and needs to go through a series of processes such as smelting, forging, and rolling to make usable profiles such as plates, wires, and tubes.
The chemical properties of titanium are very lively, and it is easy to react with oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen in the air, so pure titanium in industry is not 100% titanium content, usually the titanium content is higher than 95%, and according to the impurity content is divided into four grades of TA1-TA4, we commonly use TA1 and TA2. There is another small rule here: the higher the titanium content of pure titanium, the softer the material and the lower the strength, but the better the toughness.
Titanium alloy: The "titanium upgraded version" with full performance, the fragrant food in the high-end field
If pure titanium is "single-handed", then titanium alloy is a "strong combination" - it is an alloy fused with titanium and aluminum, molybdenum, vanadium, chromium and other metals, or oxygen, carbon and other non-metals, according to the metallographic structure is divided into TA, TB, TC series, of which TC4 titanium alloy (titanium 6 aluminum 4 vanadium) is the most widely used, accounting for more than half of the world's total titanium alloy output, and the aerospace field alone accounts for more than 80%.
Compared with pure titanium, the advantages of titanium alloy are all-round: the anti-corrosion can still be beaten, but the strength is much higher than that of pure titanium, and it also retains good toughness, and it is relatively easy to process and weld; What's more, it has excellent biocompatibility like pure titanium, does not cause allergies in humans, and has been used in the field of medical implants for a long time.
With its excellent comprehensive performance, titanium alloy is mainly used in high-end fields with extremely high requirements for strength, corrosion resistance, and high temperature resistance: aircraft structural parts and engine parts in aerospace, artificial joints and dental implants in the medical field, as well as golf heads and bicycle racks in high-end sports equipment.
