Physical Metallurgy of Titanium Alloys

Titanium metal was first discovered by the English chemist William Gregor in 1971 in the black magnetic sand ilmenite, and the metal was named “titanium” after the titans of Greek mythology, a symbol of power and strength [1]. Titanium is the fourth-most-abundant metal in the Earth’s crust, the other three being aluminum, iron, and magnesium. Titanium has low density and high strength, good corrosion and erosion resistance to different media, good oxidation resistance, and moderate strength at high temperatures, making it attractive for industrial applications. It has a number of features that distinguish it from other light metals and that make its physical metallurgy both complex and interesting.