Titanium is an important structural metal developed in the 1950s. Titanium alloys are widely used in various fields because of their high strength, good corrosion resistance, and high heat resistance. Many countries in the world have recognized the importance of titanium alloy materials, have conducted research and development on them, and have been practically applied.
The first practical titanium alloy was the Ti-6Al-4V alloy successfully developed by the United States in 1954. Due to its heat resistance, strength, plasticity, toughness, formability, weldability, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. It is better, and it has become the flagship alloy in the titanium alloy industry, and the amount of this alloy used has accounted for 75% to 85% of all titanium alloys. Many other titanium alloys can be regarded as modifications of Ti-6Al-4V alloy.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the main focus was on the development of high-temperature titanium alloys for aero-engines and structural titanium alloys for airframes. In the 1970s, a number of corrosion-resistant titanium alloys were developed. Since the 1980s, corrosion-resistant titanium alloys and high-strength titanium alloys have been further developed. develop. The use temperature of heat-resistant titanium alloys has increased from 400°C in the 1950s to 600-650°C in the 1990s. The emergence of A2 (Ti3Al) and r (TiAl)-based alloys has made the use of titanium in the engine part to be pushed from the cold end of the engine (fan and compressor) to the hot end (turbine) of the engine. Structural titanium alloys are developing in the direction of high strength, high plasticity, high strength, high toughness, high modulus and high damage tolerance.
In addition, since the 1970s, shape memory alloys such as Ti-Ni, Ti-Ni-Fe, Ti-Ni-Nb have also appeared, and they have been increasingly used in engineering.
There are hundreds of titanium alloys that have been developed in the world, and the most famous alloys are 20-30 kinds, such as Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-5Al-2.5Sn, Ti-2Al-2.5Zr, Ti-32Mo, Ti- Mo-Ni, Ti-Pd, SP-700, Ti-6242, Ti-10-5-3, Ti-1023, BT9, BT20, IMI829, IMI834, etc. [2,4].
According to relevant statistics, the amount of titanium used in my country's chemical industry reached 25,000 tons in 2012, a decrease from 2011. This is the first time that my country's chemical titanium market has experienced negative growth since 2009. In recent years, the chemical industry has been the largest user of titanium processing materials, and its consumption has remained at more than 50% of the total consumption of titanium materials, and it accounted for as high as 55% in 2011. However, as the economy has fallen into a downturn, the chemical industry will not only significantly reduce new projects, but will also face adjustments in the industrial structure. The new production capacity of some products will be controlled, and outdated production capacity will be phased out. Affected by this, the shrinkage of the amount of titanium processed materials has also become a matter of course. Before that, some insiders predicted that the amount of titanium used in the chemical industry would reach its peak between 2013 and 2015. Judging from the current market performance, the overall economic weakness in 2012 may advance the decline of chemical titanium.