Understanding the Titanium Tube
Growing numbers of applications use titanium pipe because there are so many cases where stainless steel and other materials are merely inadequate. Tubing is one of the popular titanium mill materials. Because of its superior strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance, it is used in a variety of products. Let's dig deeper into the titanium tubing and what it's usually used for.
The right grade
Most Titanium Tube are licensed for pressurized operation, so there are several different options out there. While all grades are available, grade 2 is the one used in most cases. This grade is readily available, which makes it a good choice for both short production runs and larger orders as well.
In a number of different industries, titanium tubing continues to grow in popularity. The most popular include:
Chemical processing – In certain extreme cases, titanium has the corrosion resistance required to last for a long time. There are so many products available in the market that able to improve your business productivity.
Oil and gas – High pressure, high-temperature applications such as those in oil and gas wells require piping that can withstand the continuous application.
Aerospace – The tube offers tiredness and crack growth resistance, can withstand high temperatures without creeping, and the lightweight pipes are very useful for their strength-to-density ratios.
Looking at titanium as opposed to other metals, the following features make it so appealing to many industries:
• 904L Pipe is about 60 percent as thick as alloys built on steel and nickel.
• Its tensile strength, in alloyed form, is greater than that of austenitic or ferrite stainless steels. You can choose robust material to make the most of your business.
• It is highly corrosion-resistant in most settings, exceeding the resistance of stainless steel.
• It is magnetic-free.
• It has excellent heat transfer characteristics, with a higher melting point than steel alloys.
• 904L Tube is workable in cold weather.
• Therefore it should not be surprising that titanium is cost-effective in a wide variety of applications.
From an engineering point of view, the physical characteristics of titanium, such as strength-to-weight ratio, biocompatibility, Young's Modulus (or stiffness), and corrosion resistance, make it also an obvious choice. Customers typically, however, search for a solution to a particular problem, rather than a metallurgical profile. Convincing the customer that a supplier can deliver the solution involves supporting technical marketing data, which illustrates how the supplier can implement the various processes that are required. These include preparation, welding, machining, polishing, superplastic shaping, and more to turn the raw material — a particular grade of titanium/titanium alloy — into a commodity that will satisfy the requirements.
Without more investment in the productive capacity of the industry, supplier-side capacity constraints could lead to unreasonable lead times. Improvements in superalloys based on nickel could challenge the inherent advantages of titanium, as could numerous other rival materials, technologies, and processes. These include bar gun-drilling for applications in the medical and offshore sectors, carbon fiber for sports equipment production, and, to name a few, fly-by-wire in the aerospace industry.