Titanium is a silver colored metal which is considered as the superior one in comparison to other metals available in the market. This element carries a lot of strength and is very light metal than steel and aluminum. It is a valued metal used as a building material in several industries for different purposes. In its purest form it is highly resistant to corrosive materials and relatively strong than steel. Element can be combined with various metals to form alloys such as aluminum, vanadium, iron and molybdenum etc. and hence are categorized into different grades depending on different properties and are used by different industries as well.
Generally titanium is classified into 12 grades in which 1 to 4 is pure titanium as they do not contain any alloy and other grades are its alloy. The pure titanium is used due to its corrosion resistance and alloys are formed to increase its strength and to make it lighter. However according to the ASTM titanium grades are categorized into 26 grades that measure several characteristics including corrosion resistance, presence of oxygen, composition, strength, ductile and strength etc.
Alloys of titanium are the mixture of titanium and other metals and either they contain alpha stabilizers which include germanium, oxygen, carbon, gallium and nitrogen or beta stabilizers which include iron, chromium, copper, silicon, nickel, cobalt, manganese and molybdenum or the combination of both the stabilizers. Different grades of Titanium are:
Grade 1: Most ductile, softest and has relatively low strength. Possesses excellent corrosion resistance, high impact toughness and greatest formability. Because all of these properties Grade 1titanium is widely used marine industry, medical industry, airframe structure and automotive parts.
Grade 2: It is the purest form of the titanium with the best combination of ductility and strength. This titanium is slightly stronger than Grade 1 but has same corrosion resistant. It is widely used in chemical processing, architecture, piping system and hydro carbon processing.
Grade 3: This grade of titanium is least used for the commercially purest titanium and is stronger than the Grade 1 and 2 and has similar ductility. It is widely used where major corrosion resistance and moderate strength are required.
Grade 4: It is the well known strongest metal from all purest titanium and is an excellent corrosion resistant with good formability. Grade 4 applications include heat exchanger, condenser tubing, surgical hardware and cryogenic vessels.
Grade 5: This is also known as Ti 6Al-4V most commonly used alloy in the industry. It has exceedingly high strength and heat resistivity and hence used in aerospace fasteners, marine applications, engine components and sports equipments.
Other grades are Grade 7 (used in chemical industry due to superior resistant), Grade 9 (with high strength used in hydraulic piping), Grade 11 and 12 and so on.
