Description:
Titanium was discovered in England in 1791 by Reverend William Gregor, a metal is lightweight, durable, white metal, shiny, corrosion resistant and well known for its corrosion resistance (almost as much as platinum) and its high strength / weight ratio.
It is light, hard, with a low density. In its pure state is quite malleable, shiny, white metal. However, titanium alloys are not easily workable, and the difficulty of working with machine tools is comparable to that of stainless steel, notoriously the most difficult to be shaped by machining.
The relatively high melting point of this element makes it useful as a refractory metal. Titanium is as strong as steel but 40% lighter, weighs 60% more aluminum but with a double resistance. These properties make titanium very resistant to usual forms of metal fatigue.
Titanium is not found free in nature, but is the ninth most abundant element in Earth’s crust (0.6% by mass) and is present in many igneous rocks and sediments derived from them. It is found mainly in the following minerals anatase, brookite, ilmenite, leucoxene, perovskite, rutile and titanates spheno as well as in many minerals and metals. Of these minerals, only ilmenite, leucoxene and rutile have a significant economic importance.Significant deposit of titanium minerals are found in Australia, Scandinavia, North America and Malaysia.