Titanium

by Joanne Gatmaitan

Titanium is a chemical element found in Group IVb in the Transition Metal section of the periodic table. It is a silvery-gray, light weight, high strength, and a low corrosion structural metal. At room temperature, titanium is resistant to tarnishing, but at elevated temperatures, it reacts with the oxygen in the air. This is not a determinant to its properties during forging or fabrication of its alloys (the oxide scale is removed after fabrication). In the liquid state, titanium is very reactive and reduces all known refractors. Pure titanium is ductile, half as dense as iron, and less than twice as dense as aluminum; when polished, it gives off a high luster. Titanium has a low electrical and thermal conductivity and is paramagnetic ( it is weakly attracted to magnets). Natural titanium consists of five isotopes from titanium-46 to titanium-50.

A compound of titanium and oxygen was discovered by the English chemist and mineralogist William Gregor in 1791. Titanium was then rediscovered and named by the German chemist martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1795. Titanium is comprised of 0.44% of the earth’s crust. This metal is found in almost all rocks, sand, clay, (and other soils), plants, animals, natural waters and deep sea dredgings, and meteorites and stars. It was isolated in pure form by the New Zealand-born U.S. metallurgist Matthew A. Hunter in 1910 by reducing TiCl₄ (Titanium tetrachloride) with sodium in an airtight steel cylinder. After 1947, titanium was changed from laboratory curiosity to an important structural metal.

Titanium’s importance is based in the usefulness of its alloys with most metals and some nonmetals. It has excellent corrosion resistance in many environments because of the formation of a passive oxide surface film. Its combination of high strength, low density, and excellent corrosion resistance allows this metal to be used for parts of aircraft, spacecraft, missles, ships, and prosthetic devices (because it doesn’t react with bones and fleshy tissues). Titanium is also used as a deoxidizer in steel, as an alloying addition in many steels to reduce grain size, in stainless steels to reduce carbon contents, in aluminum to refine grain size, and in copper to produce hardening.

Titanium has three valences in the oxygen compounds: Titanium (II) oxide, Titanium (III) oxide, and Titanium (IV) oxide. The +4 state is the most stable. One of the most important varieties is the trichloride (TiCl₃), a crystalline form of which is particularly useful as a catalyst in the stereospecific polymerization of propylene to make the commercially valuable polymer polypropylene. Of all the compounds formed by tetrovalent titanium, the dioxide (Titanium (IV) oxide) is the most important. This pure white powder is used as pigments in paints, enamels, and lacquers. It also occurs in nature as the minerals: brookite, octahedrite, anatase, and rutile. Another compound of commercial significant use is Titanium tetrachloride. This is a colorless liquid used to obtain titanium metal. It is also utilized for skywriting, producing smoke screens, and as a catalyst in many organic reactions. This metal is a metal of great significance due to its many excellent aspects.

Additional Information

Electronic configuration: 2-8-10-2 or (Ar) 3d²4s²

The "Mole" Project:

The metal titanium has a low density, high strength and an excellent corrosion resistance. Because of these premium aspects, this metal is used in building many significant items that the world uses today. One of the uses of titanium is to build ship motors (as well as other parts for a ship). In order to keep in mind what this great metal can do, I chose a Titanic theme. The name of this metal and the name of this ship sound quite alike. To remember this excellent metal, remember a ship that was also once great: a metal with low density, high strength, and a low corrosion resistance and an unsinkable ship.