Miscellaneous Metals and Alloys - Thermal and Electrical Properties of Ductile Titanium (Metals Tech., Sept. 1948, TP 2466)

Metallic titanium has been prepared in small quantities since the beginning of the century. Hunter1 reported in 1910 that he obtained a malleable product of 99.9 pct purity by the reduction of the tetrachloride by sodium in a closed container. Later Van Arke12 and Fast prepared small quantities of malleable titanium by thermal decomposition of titanium iodide. Another method for producing malleable titanium from tetrachloride was reported by Kr0ll4 who used magnesium as the reducing agent. More recently Dean, Long, Wartman, and Anderson5 working at the U.S. Bureau of Mines have reported the preparation of the metal on a pilot plant scale by the reduction of titanium tetrachloride by magnesium in an atmosphere of helium. Their product, which is malleable, was used in the present investigation. Early in 1948 after the work of this paper was completed Campbell, Jaffee, Blocher, Gurland, and Gonser6 described the strength and working characteristics of pure titanium which was prepared by the iodide method on a scale producing 300 to 600 g per run, in the form of 0.3- to 0.4-in. diam rods. Their product is characterized by low hardness and large capacity for cold work which they attribute to a high degree of purity with respect to oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. Titanium has a melting point of about 1725 C," it may be classed as a light metal since the specific gravity is 4.5 g per cc-I. The crystal structure is close-packed hexagonal from room temperature to 885°C. Above this temperature the structure is reported7 as body-centered cubic. The change in crystal structure has been associated with discontinuities in specific heat,8 electric resistanceg and theimoelec-tric force10 at temperatures near 890°C. It is reportedll that annealed titanium has a tensile strength of 78,700 psi which can be increased by cold-work to 123,000 psi. In the present investigation, the lattice constants at room temperature, the thermal expansivity between 30 and 800°C, as well as the electrical resistivity and thermoelectric force against platinum between — zoo and I000 C have been determined. Materials For the measurements, two series of specimens were prepared from titanium furnished by the U. S. Bureau of Mines. The first was made from an annealed sintered compact, 0.38 in. thick. Sections of the compact were cold-swaged with intermediate anneals in vacuum to the sizes used. Sizes over 0.25-in. diam were annealed at I000°C and smaller sizes at 800°C. Specimens originating from the sintered compact are designated in this paper as A. The second series of specimens was made from a rod of titanium, 0.19 in. in diam, which was cold-swaged with the necessary intermediate anneals to the required sizes. This series of specimens is designated B. The impurities in the specimens of titanium, determined by chemical analysis, are given in Table 1. Oxygen and nitrogen which Were not determined by analysis, are probably present although in small quantities in view of the ductility of the material.