Titanium Used to Replace Steel
Titanium Used to Replace Steel
(OP)
I was recently browsing some investment sites and they were discussing titanium outlook in terms of the market. One person suggested that because of titanium being outstanding in terms of its strength to weight ratio, and depending on the cost of fuel, it might be looked at as a viable alternative to other forms of metals because of reduced fuel consumption for lighter vehicles.
I was hoping a few of you in the know a bit more could look at this a little bit more definitively to see if this stacks up to a basic engineering feasibility test. I'm sure that there's a point where fuel might reach in terms of price where the added cost of the titanium might be offset by the slightly reduced cost in fuel to power the vehicle, I just don't know how much steel goes into a car or other vehicle, and etc.
I think you guys get the idea.
Is titanium the wave of the future in the automotive industry?
I was hoping a few of you in the know a bit more could look at this a little bit more definitively to see if this stacks up to a basic engineering feasibility test. I'm sure that there's a point where fuel might reach in terms of price where the added cost of the titanium might be offset by the slightly reduced cost in fuel to power the vehicle, I just don't know how much steel goes into a car or other vehicle, and etc.
I think you guys get the idea.
Is titanium the wave of the future in the automotive industry?





RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
Titanium may occasionally find a place, but the cost and other poor properties will severely limit its application, unless it gets a lot cheaper or steel gets a lot dearer.
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RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
There are cases where titanium's properties are a great fit (e.g. springs) and could allow quicker usage.
If 0.5 kg of titanium were used on every vehicle, it would require more titanium than all existing ones combined. This is why there is a large desire to tap the automotive market.
Regards,
Cory
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RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
I believe there are far better applications for Titanium than this.
RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
- Steve
RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
Titanium producers are looking to profit from high prices because the majority user(s) are aerospace/commerical aircraft, and there is a boom in this market. These traditional customers will pay the high prices to obtain the material now to use for their designs. Automotive usage of titanium is not a reality due to the lower cost of the vehicles and the lower premium placed on fuel efficiency.
Titanium is produced by batch processing that is essentially unchanged over the last 50 years. It is low volume and high cost. Titanium has interesting properties (like high oxygen affinity, hexagonal crystal structure) that make it more challenging (and more costly) to produce. Reducing the cost by a factor of ten to compete with steel, aluminum, and polymers in the automotive market is a "game changer", "killer app" or "economic shock" that will be difficult to produce.
Regards,
Cory
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RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
that's why Dan Gurney's American Eagle F1 car didn't have seatbelts, believe it or not!
He had a real fear of dying in a fire.
RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
See MSDS: http://www.espi-metals.com/msds's/titanium.pdf
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Titanium Used to Replace Steel
There are immense problems with titanium in a production car setting.
Titanium galls so you can't use it in sliding applications.
Titanium is expensive...like $65/pound (last summer, haven't looked lately). Steel is under $1/pound so titanium is immediately eliminated from most equations.
Titanium is extremely difficult to form=expensive to form.
Titanium is difficult to weld=expensive to weld.
Titanium is very hard to even purchase. Last summer Boeing was waiting over a year to have plate made.
I doubt you will see much titanium on production cars in the near future unless its price comes way, way, way down.
As for the magnesium comments:
A very well known crew chief I knew once said, if the fire is hot enough to start the wheels on fire then the driver had better long be out of the car. Mag chips and fines burn but solid blocks are extremely difficult to light on fire. It is a non-issue.
I think mag, aluminum, and plastic have a far brighter future in automobiles than titanium.
www.kirkhammotorsports.com