Titanium And Zirconium

IN the broad survey of the nonferrous' metallic elements contained in this book, the reader may well be impressed by the wide range of property combinations offered by the many metals and alloys the metallurgist has prepared since before Kubla Khan. The diversity is great and the overlap is considerable. It is particularly surprising, then, to find the latest structural metal new- comer designated by such extravagant terms as "Cinderella Metal," "Wonder Metal," "Miracle Metal," "The Metal of Tomorrow," "Dream Metal or Nightmare?" and "The Middleweight Champion of the Structural Metals." Of these and others, the most appropriate designation for the metal involved, titanium, appears to be that of The Middleweight Champion. Its intermediate density of 4.5 and elastic modulus of 16 million is a unique combination between the lower density and modulus of magnesium and aluminum and the higher density and modulus of copper, nickel, and iron. It is light, strong, ductile, and corrosion resistant. A chemical neighbor in group IV of the Periodic Table, zirconium, is similar to titanium in many respects but is appreciably denser, 6.5 instead of 4.5, less stiff and relatively much less abundant. On the other hand, the resistance of zirconium to acids and alkalies is better than that of titanium. Also, compensating for its higher density, lower stiffness, and somewhat lower strength level compared with titanium, zirconium has much better permeability to slow neutrons and is much more suitable as a material of construction for nuclear reactors.