Titanium has high strength, and the tensile strength of pure titanium can reach up to 180kg/mm2. Some steels are stronger than titanium alloys, but the specific strength (the ratio of tensile strength to density) of titanium alloys exceeds that of high-quality steels. Titanium alloy has good heat resistance, low temperature toughness and fracture toughness, so it is mostly used as aircraft engine parts and rocket and missile structural parts. Titanium alloy can also be used as fuel and oxidant storage tanks and high-pressure vessels. Titanium alloys have been used to make automatic rifles, mortar seat plates and recoilless gun launch tubes. In the petroleum industry, it is mainly used for various containers, reactors, heat exchangers, distillation towers, pipelines, pumps and valves.
Titanium can be used as electrodes and condensers in power stations and environmental pollution control devices. Titanium-nickel shape memory alloys have been widely used in instruments. In medical treatment, titanium can be used as artificial bones and various appliances. Titanium is also a deoxidizer for steelmaking and a component of stainless steel and alloy steel. Titanium dioxide is a good raw material for pigments and paints. Titanium carbide, carbon (hydrogen) titanium is a new type of cemented carbide material. Titanium nitride has a color close to gold and is widely used in decoration.
Titanium and titanium alloys are widely used in the aviation industry and are called “space metals”; in addition, they are increasingly widely used in the shipbuilding industry, chemical industry, manufacturing mechanical parts, telecommunications equipment, and cemented carbide.