What are titanium alloys?
Titanium alloy has high strength and low density, good mechanical properties, toughness, and corrosion resistance is very good. In addition, the process performance of titanium alloy is poor, and cutting and processing difficulties, in thermal processing, is very easy to absorb impurities such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. There is also poor abrasion resistance, the production process is complex. The industrialized production of titanium was started in 1948. The need for the development of the aviation industry, so that the titanium industry to an average annual growth rate of about 8% development. At present, the world's annual output of titanium alloy processing materials has reached more than 40,000 tons, with titanium alloy grades of nearly 30 kinds. The most widely used titanium alloys are Ti-6Al-4V (TC4), Ti-5Al-2.5Sn (TA7), and industrial pure titanium.
What is the use of titanium alloy？
Titanium alloys are mainly used to make aircraft engine compressor components, followed by rockets, missiles, and high-speed aircraft structural components. in the mid-1960s, titanium and its alloys were used in general industrial applications, used to make electrodes for the electrolysis industry, power station condensers, petroleum refining, and seawater desalination of heaters, as well as environmental pollution control devices. Titanium and its alloys have become a corrosion-resistant structural material. It is also used to produce hydrogen storage materials and shape memory alloys.
Titanium alloy is a new and important structural material used in the aerospace industry, specific gravity, strength, and use of temperature between aluminum and steel, but higher than the strength and has excellent resistance to seawater corrosion and ultra-low-temperature performance. 1950 U.S. fighters for the first time in the F-84 fighters used as a rear fuselage heat shield, windshield, tail cowl, and other non-bearing components. 60s the beginning of the use of titanium alloys from the rear fuselage parts to move to the center fuselage, part of the ground. The use of titanium alloy moved to the center fuselage, partially replacing structural steel to manufacture important load-bearing components such as bulkheads, beams, flap slides, and so on. The use of titanium alloy in military aircraft increased rapidly, reaching 20% to 25% of the weight of the aircraft structure. 70's, civil aircraft began to use titanium alloy in large quantities, such as the Boeing 747 airliner with titanium amounted to more than 3640 kilograms. Mach number less than 2.5 aircraft with titanium is mainly to replace steel to reduce structural weight. Another example is the U.S. SR-71 high-altitude high-speed reconnaissance aircraft (flight Mach 3, flight altitude of 26,212 meters), titanium accounted for 93% of the weight of the structure of the aircraft, known as "all titanium" aircraft. When the thrust-to-weight ratio of the aviation engine from 4 to 6 to 8 to 10, the pressurized gas outlet temperature correspondingly increased from 200 to 300 ° C to 500 to 600 ° C, the original low-pressure pressurized gas discs and blades made of aluminum must be changed to titanium alloys, or titanium alloys instead of stainless steel to manufacture high-pressure pressurized gas discs and blades, to reduce the weight of the structure.
In summary, the amount of titanium alloy in the aviation engine generally accounts for 20% to 30% of the total weight of the structure, mainly used in the manufacture of pressurized parts, such as forged titanium fans, pressurizer discs, and blades, cast titanium pressurizer magazine, intermediary magazines, bearing shells and so on. Spacecraft mainly use titanium alloy's high strength, corrosion resistance, and low-temperature resistance to manufacture a variety of pressure vessels, fuel storage tanks, fasteners, instrument straps, frames, and rocket shells. Artificial Earth satellites, moon landing modules, manned spacecraft, and space shuttles also use titanium alloy plate weldments.
