Recently, friends often ask me what is the difference between titanium steel, pure titanium, and titanium alloy? Today, let's take a simple look with you.
The name Titanium Steel is a commercial name. Because the anti-corrosion, acid, and alkali resistance of 316L stainless steel is better than that of general stainless steel, the standard grade is 022Cr17Ni12Mo2, which mainly contains Cr, Ni, and Mo, and the number indicates the approximate percentage.
It can be seen that the main component of titanium steel is still iron, but does not contain titanium. This commercial name is used as jewelry to distinguish it from other stainless steel and obtain a higher value. In fact, the cost and sweat resistance of 316L stainless steel are indeed better than those of common stainless steel.
What can really be called titanium materials are generally two categories, one is pure titanium and the other is titanium alloys.
The highest titanium content is just-made sponge titanium, which is made of titanium tetrachloride by magnesium reduction. It is loose and porous, and its strength is very low. However, it cannot be used directly as a titanium material and needs to be smelted, forged, and rolled. , processed into various shapes of plates, wires, tubes, etc.
The titanium content of the titanium sponge is close to 100%. But titanium is too active, and it is easy to react with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc. in the air when it comes into contact with the air, so complete 100% purity is almost impossible.
Generally speaking, titanium content higher than 95% becomes industrial pure titanium. Pure titanium is divided into GR2-GR4 according to the difference between titanium content and impurity content. We usually more common are GR2 and GR3. Impurities are mainly oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, iron, and so on. The higher the titanium content, the softer it is, and the lower the strength we say, but the better its toughness. Therefore, when we make titanium belt buckles and titanium accessories, we will use GR2 material in places where the force is not very strong, and use GR3 material for shafts and small screws.
When we make pure titanium cups, we cannot use GR3. The higher the purity, the better, especially the hydrogen content must below. Otherwise, due to insufficient toughness, it will be easy to crack, or there will be more obvious stretch lines one by one. Or pitted, the scrap rate will be quite high.
As the name suggests, titanium alloys are alloys of titanium and other metals and non-metals. Taking the most commonly used GR5 titanium alloy as an example, its titanium content is 90%, aluminum 6%, and vanadium 4%, so it is also called titanium 6 aluminum 4 vanadium. GR5 titanium alloy is the earliest developed and most widely used titanium alloy in the world, and it is also the earliest titanium alloy used in medical treatment. more than 80%. It has high anti-corrosion properties, higher strength than pure titanium, good toughness, and relatively easy processing and welding, so its comprehensive performance is excellent, and it is not allergic like pure titanium.
So is pure titanium better or titanium alloy better?
This is inconclusive. Different materials are suitable for different products. Generally speaking, excluding factors such as shape, the material cost of titanium alloys is higher than that of pure titanium. Of course, the titanium alloy here is a regular grade. It is based on titanium and adds other metals and non-metals, rather than adding a little titanium to other metals, and if it contains a little titanium, it pretends to be a titanium alloy.
