Titanium

[Bsmith]

I notice pieces of titanium for sale on the bay, often called 'billets'. What's titanium good for I can't ever remember using it, is it stainless? Weldable? Good for lathe products? Or what is fantastic about titanium please?

 

[DanielW]

Gets hot really fast on lathe,lotsa smoke titanium can be used for tool bits as a hardebed point like screwdriver bits,turning bits,ect.

 

[penfold]

Gets hot really fast on lathe,lotsa smoke titanium can be used for tool bits as a hardebed point like screwdriver bits,turning bits,ect.

Not sure where you're getting this from; I'm not aware of Ti being used for any of these things. Titanium Nitride (TiN) is often used as a coating for drill bits and other cutting tools as it reduces friction and typically provides an attractive shiny yellow coating. Titanium itself would make pretty terrible cutting tools as it's quite springy and manufacturing them would be a pain as it work hardens. It's commonly used where weight is critical, like space craft and bicycles, as its strength is similar to steel but it is much less dense.

 

[hotrodder]

Titanium is a metallic element. Non ferrous unlike stainless which is an iron based alloy. Loads of different flavours of Ti including 4 commercially pure and loads of different alloys. Looooovely stuff to weld, commercially pure flavours aren't too bad to work with but the harder/stronger flavours can be a bear to machine and fabricate with... high strengths/hardness, more 'elastic' than steels as said, lots of springback, it's pyrophoric but unlike mag is a poor conductor of heat so it's easier to start a fire and like mag pouring water on a Ti fire make your day a lot worse

Very, very crudely commercially pure Ti is kinda to stainless what stainless is to mild steel from a workability/machining/shaping/welding POV if that makes sense and very generally it's around half the density of steel and half the stiffness (Young's modulus). If 'billet' = barstock in this context then grade 5 (6Al4V) is the most common suspect. Annealed grade 5 Ti is significantly harder and 'stronger' than say normalised 4130 chromoly

 

[pedrobedro]

A foundry I worked in used to cast titanium turbine rotors.

 

[chevy2]

Titanium tube and sheet is becoming more common on high end drag race cars recently, in particular the pro-mod class,
its offers an even greater weight saving over 4130 tube which is the norm for these cars,
every racer looking to gain the edge over the opposition.....

 

[wristpin]

Don't they use a version of it for patching up the human skeleton ?

 

[p0689109]

In the 70's they modified the Vulcan fleet to allow them to remain inservice (good job they did as Falklands appeared in their sights) by lining the engine bays with titanium sheet to contain any engine bits that might try to escape. Mammoth task, as the Vulcan had to be jacked and stressed as if they were in flying mode to allow the fitting to be done. Took 6 months to do each airframe. I was running a Mini estate at the time and the inner sill to floor was rotten so I got a piece of scrap titanium sheet and riveted and sealed it in place. In those days car repair standards were not as severe as today. Most panels were spot brazed or you were even allowed to bolt or rivet panels in place. Seen and done both. The bolt repair was to a HC Viva inner wings. Anyway that bit of titanium sheet I used was worth a lot more than the rest of the car!! Boy was it expensive stuff. And a might difficult to drill and cut.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

My glasses are Titanium

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Don't they use a version of it for patching up the human skeleton ?

Neighbour has a Titanium hip joint. The metal on metal movement creates toxic Titanium "paste" so he had to have the joint cleaned out every so often until they can fit him in to have an alternative ceramic joint.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/01January/Pages/hip-implant-fears.aspx

 

[Shox Dr]

Ive a few 2'X4' sheets a mate gave me, as he'd got enough to keep the dog in the garden

 

[Maker]

Neighbour has a Titanium hip joint. The metal on metal movement creates toxic Titanium "paste" so he had to have the joint cleaned out every so often until they can fit him in to have an alternative ceramic joint.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/01January/Pages/hip-implant-fears.aspx

I've got one off them.

 

[Robotstar5]

I've got one off them.
View attachment 47120 View attachment 47121

Damned NHS cuts, you even have to remove and clean your own hip joints these days