Titanium for aerospace: Rationale and applications

Titanium and titanium alloys are excellent candidates for aerospace applications due to their high strength to weight ratio and excellent corrosion resistance; titanium and its alloys are immune to almost every medium to which they would be exposed in an aerospace environment. Titanium usage is, however, strongly limited by its higher cost relative to competing materials, primarily aluminum alloys and steels. Hence the advantages to using titanium must be balanced against its added cost. The titanium alloys used for aerospace applications, some of the characteristics of these alloys, the rationale for utilizing them, and some specific applications of different types of actual usage will be discussed herein. This is an extension of References 1 and 2, which reviewed applicaiions of β alloys. These references will provide more details on applications of the β alloys, while the α and α/β alloys are added herein.