What Is The Difference Between Titanium Alloy And Stainless Steel In Metal Processing?
Titanium alloys and stainless steels, as regulars in metal processing, are strong and durable, and have excellent physical and chemical properties, making them widely used. And stainless steel and titanium alloys are often compared, and “what is the main difference between stainless steel and titanium alloys? As a metal processing material, which is better between stainless steel and titanium alloys?” are the most frequently discussed questions.
Basic introduction to titanium alloys and stainless steels
Titanium alloy
Titanium metal, as a single metal state without any other elements, is a chemically active metal. Metal titanium can directly and violently combine with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, etc., so it is difficult for elemental titanium. Preparation, now in nature on earth, titanium metal is often combined with other metal oxides in the form of titanium oxide.
But titanium has very strong physical properties. Titanium has a metallic luster and is malleable. The speed of sound in it is 5090 m/s. The main characteristics of titanium are low density, high mechanical strength, easy processing, and if it is a titanium alloy, it has ultra-high low temperature and high temperature resistance physical properties. If other magazines are added to titanium metal, such as interstitial impurities (oxygen, nitrogen, carbon), the strength of titanium can be greatly increased and its plasticity can be significantly reduced.
Titanium has good corrosion resistance and is not affected by the atmosphere and seawater. At room temperature, it will not be corroded by hydrochloric acid below 7%, sulfuric acid below 5%, nitric acid, aqua regia or dilute alkaline solution; only hydrofluoric acid, concentrated Only hydrochloric acid, concentrated sulfuric acid, etc. can act on it. Hydrogen fluoride liquid without water can only generate a dense titanium tetrafluoride film on the surface of titanium, which can prevent HF from immersing into the interior of titanium. Hydrofluoric acid is the strongest solvent for titanium. Even 1% hydrofluoric acid reacts violently with titanium
Stainless steel
When stainless steel returns to the most essential, it is still iron-carbon alloy. When the iron-carbon alloy contains 1.2% ≥ carbon content ≤ 2%, it is called carbon steel.
In addition to carbon, carbon steel generally contains a small amount of silicon, manganese, sulfur, and phosphorus. . At this time, carbon steel has high strength and low hardness, but relatively poor plasticity.
When chromium is added to carbon steel and the carbon content is reduced, stainless steel can be formed with a chromium content of at least 10.5% and a carbon content of a maximum of 1.2%. Stainless steel not only refers to a kind of steel, but also can form stainless steel with different functions according to the carbon content and the types of other elements added. There are more than 100 types of stainless steel only used in industry.
If stainless steel is often divided into: martensitic steel, ferritic steel, austenitic steel, austenitic-ferritic (duplex) stainless steel and precipitation hardening stainless steel, etc. In addition, it can be divided into: chromium stainless steel, chromium-nickel stainless steel and chromium-manganese-nitrogen stainless steel according to the composition. There are also special stainless steels for pressure vessels
Types of stainless steel
For the types of stainless steel, there can be different classifications, chemical composition classification, metallographic structure type, corrosion resistance type, functional characteristic type.
According to the chemical composition, it can be divided into two major systems: chromium series stainless steel (such as ferrite series, martensite series) and chromium-nickel series stainless steel (such as austenite series, abnormal series, precipitation hardening series).
According to the metallographic structure, it can be divided into austenitic stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel, martensitic stainless steel, duplex stainless steel, and precipitation hardening stainless steel.
According to the type of corrosion resistance, it can be divided into stress corrosion resistant stainless steel, pitting corrosion resistant stainless steel, intergranular corrosion resistant stainless steel, etc.
According to functional characteristics, it can be divided into free-cutting stainless steel, non-magnetic stainless steel, low-temperature stainless steel, and high-strength stainless steel.
The difference between stainless steel and titanium alloy
Differences in physical properties
When titanium alloy is still titanium, titanium metal has the characteristics of low density, high mechanical strength and easy processing. However, with the addition of magazines, especially the addition of interstitial impurities, titanium metal greatly improves the strength of titanium and significantly reduces its plasticity.
Titanium is light, and after forming a titanium alloy, its weight is almost half of that of steel of the same volume. Although titanium is slightly heavier than aluminum, its yield strength is twice that of aluminum. The strength of titanium is higher than that of aluminum and steel, and the specific modulus is very close to that of aluminum and steel. In aerospace and deep sea exploration, a large amount of titanium and titanium alloys are used to replace steel. Titanium is known as space metal and cosmic metal, and it deserves its name.
Although the corrosion resistance of stainless steel is not as good as that of titanium alloy, stainless steel still has very good corrosion resistance, and stainless steel has strong formability, compatibility, and strong toughness in a wide temperature range. Therefore, it has been widely used in heavy industry, light industry, daily necessities industry and building decoration industries.
Differences in chemical properties
After the addition of interstitial impurities, elemental titanium can form a very stable oxide with strong corrosion resistance on the surface. After forming a titanium alloy with other metals, it will become very stable and have very high strength.
And stainless steel, the most basic material is iron, iron is not very active relatively, and it does not have very strong corrosion resistance in terms of its own oxides. enhancement.
Differences in application fields
The application fields of titanium alloys are more widely used in aerospace, marine exploration and other fields, and because titanium metal itself has “biophilic” properties, in the human body, it can resist the corrosion of secretions and is non-toxic, and is resistant to any sterilization method. adapt.
Therefore, it is widely used in the manufacture of medical devices, artificial hip joints, knee joints, shoulder joints, flank joints, skulls, active heart valves, and bone fixation clips. When new muscle fibrous rings are wrapped around these “titanium bones”, these titanium bones begin to maintain the normal activities of the human body.
The difference in price
Due to the difficult chemical properties of titanium metal, the cost of preparing titanium metal is very high. In addition, titanium alloy has low density and high strength, which makes titanium alloy replace stainless steel in many high-end industries. However, because of these excellent characteristics, titanium alloy makes The price is very high.
Stainless steel is an iron-carbon alloy, and iron is simple because of its simple preparation conditions and low preparation cost. Yes, in some relatively low-end fields, the use of stainless steel is a very common thing.
What are the application fields of stainless steel and titanium alloys?
Application fields of stainless steel
Compared with titanium alloys, the application fields of stainless steel are much wider. Because of the low cost, we can basically buy stainless steel in our daily life, such as stainless steel pots and pans, stainless steel door handles, etc. In general industrial fields, stainless steel products are often seen, such as high temperature resistant stainless steel boilers, stainless steel water storage tanks, etc.
And in the future of new energy vehicle manufacturing, stainless steel will become an important processed metal in this industry. Of course, stainless steel has a very wide range of applications. Hongjingyuan Plastic Hardware Products Co., Ltd. will list a few here.
Application fields of titanium alloys
The application field of titanium alloy is relatively not very large, and it is more used in the fields that require low quality, high strength and relatively high-end. Let’s take a look.
Other extended knowledge of stainless steel and titanium alloys
Stainless steel standard steel grade comparison table and density table
| China | JP | US | KR | EU | Australia | Taiwan, China | Density t/m3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T20878 | JIS | ASTM | KS | BSEN | AS | CNS | |
| 12Cr13 | SUS403 | 403 | STS403 | — | 403 | 403 | 7.75 |
| 20Cr13 | SUS420J1 | 420 | STS420J1 | 1.4021 | 420 | 420J1 | 7.75 |
| 30Cr13 | SUS420J2 | — | STS420J2 | 1.4028 | 420J2 | 420J2 | 7.75 |
| 10Cr17 | SUS430 | 430 | STS430 | 1.4016 | 430 | 430 | 7.7 |
| 68Cr17 | SUS440A | 440A | STS440A | — | 440A | 440A | 7.7 |
| 06Cr19Ni10 | SUS304 | 304 | STS304 | 1.4301 | 304 | 304 | 7.93 |
| 022Cr19Ni10 | SUS304L | 304L | STS304L | 1.4306 | 304L | 304L | 7.93 |
| 06Cr17Ni12Mo2 | SUS316 | 316 | STS316 | 1.4401 | 316 | 316 | 7.98 |
| 022Cr17Ni12Mo2 | SUS316L | 316L | STS316L | 1.4404 | 316L | 316L | 7.98 |
| 06Cr18Ni11Ti | SUS321 | 321 | STS321 | 1.4541 | 321 | 321 | 7.93 |
| 06Cr18Ni11Nb | SUS347 | 347 | STS347 | 1.455 | 347 | 347 | 7.98 |
Titanium alloy standard number comparison table and density table
| Material Grade & Equivalents | Density | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alloy Name | UNS Designation | DIN / EN | Others | gm/cm3 | kg/m3 | lb-in3 |
| Titanium Grade1 | UNS R50250 | 3.0725 | ... | 4.51 | 4510 | 1.629 |
| Titanium Grade2 | UNS R50400 | 3.0735 | ... | 4.51 | 4510 | 1.629 |
| Titanium Grade3 | UNS R50550 | 3.0755 | ... | 4.51 | 4510 | 1.629 |
| Titanium Grade4 | UNS R50700 | 3.0765 | ... | 4.51 | 4510 | 1.629 |
| Titanium Grade5 | UNS R56400 | 3.7165 | ... | 4.43 | 4430 | 1.6 |
| Titanium Grade7 | UNS R52400 | 3.7235 | ... | 4.5 | 4500 | 1.626 |
| Titanium Grade9 | UNS R56320 | 3.7195 | ... | 4.48 | 4480 | 1.619 |
| Titanium Grade11 | UNS R52250 | 3.7225 | ... | 4.51 | 4510 | 1.629 |
| Titanium Grade12 | UNS R53400 | 3.7105 | ... | 4.51 | 4510 | 1.629 |
| Titanium Grade16 | UNS R52402 | ... | ... | 4.42 | 4420 | 1.597 |
| Titanium Grade17 | UNS R52252 | ... | ... | 4.5 | 4500 | 1.626 |
| Titanium Grade19 | UNS R58640 | ... | ... | 4.81 | 4810 | 1.738 |
| Titanium Grade20 | UNS R58645 | ... | ... | 5 | 5000 | 1.806 |
| Titanium Grade23 | UNS R56407 | ... | ... | 4.43 | 4430 | 1.6 |
| Titanium Grade25 | UNS R56403 | ... | ... | 4.43 | 4430 | 1.6 |
| Titanium Grade26 | UNS R52404 | ... | ... | 4.5 | 4810 | 1.626 |
| Titanium Grade29 | UNS R56404 | ... | ... | 4.43 | 5000 | 1.6 |
Summarize
As a metal processing material, which is better between stainless steel and titanium alloy depends on which application fields, in aerospace and deep sea exploration, because titanium alloy has the ability of anti-corrosion, anti-oxidation, low density and high strength, which is ahead of stainless steel in an all-round way. Stainless steel is basically replaced by titanium alloy, but the price of titanium alloy is much higher than the price of stainless steel. In our ordinary industrial fields and in the production and life of residents, stainless steel products are generally seen, mainly because the preparation conditions of stainless steel are simple, and the strength, hardness and other aspects are relatively excellent metals. In metal processing, stainless steel and titanium alloy are more based on the specific situation to choose which metal, usually the status of stainless steel and titanium alloy is to replace each other
1. The main difference between stainless steel and titanium is that stainless steel is an alloy metal, while titanium is a metal. The unique properties of stainless steel are produced by adding alloy metals to it, titanium cannot exist in nature as a metal element
2. Titanium and titanium alloys are particularly commonly used in industries that require lower density in addition to strength, while stainless steel is widely used
3. Generally speaking, the cost of titanium, titanium alloy will be more expensive than stainless steel
4. Titanium is extremely biocompatible, which means it is non-toxic to the human body
5. Stainless steel has both weldability and formability, making it easy to form
6. Stainless steel is prone to fatigue and breakage, while titanium is highly resistant to fatigue caused by temperature fluctuations. Therefore, titanium is a better choice when temperature changes result in extremely high or low temperatures.
Stainless steel and titanium are used in various industries around the world. Both are very durable, corrosion resistant and strong. Often, the nature of its use determines which metal is chosen.
Not necessarily, titanium is too expensive for some industries (such as buildings that require large quantities), in general industries, if both metal materials can be considered as objects, stainless steel is generally selected
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If you are interested in our article, please pay attention to us. Hongjingyuan Hardware will introduce the difference between stainless steel and titanium alloy today. The stainless steel mentioned in this article is also often used in die casting services. You can Watch our article to learn more about die casting:
What Is The Different Between Cold Chamber Die Casting And Hot Chamber Die Casting？
This article was re-edited on May 30, 2023