Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It is a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength. Titanium can be alloyed with iron, aluminium, vanadium, and molybdenum to produce strong, lightweight alloys. Titanium dioxide is a popular photocatalyst and is used in the manufacture of white pigments.

About Titanium in brief

Summary TitaniumTitanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It is a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength. Titanium can be alloyed with iron, aluminium, vanadium, and molybdenum to produce strong, lightweight alloys for aerospace, military, industrial processes, medical prostheses, orthopedic implants, dental and endodontic instruments and files. Titanium dioxide is a popular photocatalyst and is used in the manufacture of white pigments. Other compounds include titanium tetrachloride, a component of smoke screens and catalysts; and titanium trichloride, which is used as a catalyst in the production of polypropylene. The element occurs within a number of mineral deposits, principally rutile and ilmenite, which are widely distributed in the Earth’s crust and lithosphere. It can be found in almost all living things, as well as bodies of water, rocks, and soils. There are two allotropic forms and five naturally occurring isotopes of this element, 46Ti through 50Ti, with 48Ti being the most abundant. Although titanium and zirconium have the same number of valence electrons and are in the same group in the periodic table, they differ in many chemical and physical properties. The metal is a dimorphic allotrope of an hexagonal α form that changes into a body-centered cubic β form at 882 °C. It is paramagnetic and has fairly low electrical and thermal conductivity compared to other metals.

Titanium is superconducting when cooled below its critical temperature of 0. 49 K. The two most useful properties of the metal are corrosion resistance and strength-to-density ratio, the highest of any metallic element. In its unalloyed condition, titanium is as strong as some steels, but less dense. Commercially pure grades of titanium have ultimate tensile strength of about 434 MPa, equal to that of common, low-grade steel alloys. Titanium readily reacts with oxygen at 1,200 in air, and at 610 in pure oxygen, forming titanium dioxide. Like aluminium and magnesium, titanium metal and its alloys oxidize immediately upon exposure to air. Like steel structures, those made from titanium have a fatigue limit that guarantees longevity in some applications. Titanium gives excellent resistance to corrosion to platinum with dilute sulfuric acids, chloride, and most organic acids. It also absorbs chlorine and absorbs halogens and absorbs the other halogens. At 800 °C titanium is one of the few elements that burns in pure nitrogen gas, reacting to nitride, which causes nitride to form titanium nitride. At 550 C, titanium is a very reactive metal that burns at lower temperatures than the melting point in normal atmosphere. Melting is possible only in an inert atmosphere in a vacuum or a vacuum. When it first forms, this protective layer is only 1–2 nm but continues to grow slowly; reaching a thickness of 25 nm in four years.