Product Description

Titanium was discovered inCornwall,England, byWilliam Gregor in ***1for theTitans ofGreek mythology. The element occurs within a number of mineral deposits, principallyrutile andilmenite, which are widely distributed in theEarth's crust andlithosphere, and it is found in almost all living things, rocks, water bodies, and soils. The metal is extracted from its principal mineral ores via theKroll process or theHunter process. Its most common compound,titanium dioxide, is a popularphotocatalyst and is used in the manufacture of white pigments. Other compounds includetitanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), a component ofsmoke screens andcatalysts; andtitanium trichloride (TiCl3), which is used as a catalyst in the production ofpolypropylene. Titanium can bealloyed withiron,aluminium,vanadium,molybdenum, among other elements, to produce strong lightweight alloys for aerospace (jet engines,missiles, andspacecraft), military, industrial process (chemicals and petro-chemicals,desalination plants, pulp, and paper), automotive, agri-food, medicalprostheses, orthopedicimplants, dental and endodontic instruments and files,dental implants, sporting goods, jewelry,mobile phones, and other applications. The two most useful properties of the metal form are corrosion resistance and the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal. In its unalloyed condition, titanium is as strong as somesteels, but *5% lighter. There are twoallotropic forms and five naturally occurringisotopes of this element, Ti through Ti, with Ti being the mostabundant (*3.8%).Titanium's properties are chemically and physically similar tozirconium, because both of them have the same number ofvalence electrons and are in the samegroup in theperiodic table.