What is titanium? Why is it so expensive?

Titanium, chemical symbol Ti, atomic number 22, is recognized as the world’s non-toxic element.

This silvery-white transition metal, named after the Titan in Greek mythology, has many excellent properties, including low density, high strength, corrosion resistance, excellent high and low temperature performance, non-magnetic, and good biocompatibility.

Titanium’s high specific strength performance is particularly outstanding. The strength of high-strength titanium alloy is comparable to that of high-strength steel, but its density is almost half of the latter. This makes titanium a special material for NASA rockets and satellites, and is used in major projects such as my country’s Yutu, J-20, and Shandong aircraft carrier.

In the civilian field, titanium has become the “honorary metal king” in the food industry due to its natural antibacterial and biophilic properties. At the same time, because titanium is friendly to human tissue and does not cause an immune response in the human body, it is also widely used in the medical field.
Titanium and its compounds are widely used in many fields such as chemical industry, marine engineering, metallurgy, and medical treatment.

Titanium is a strategic metal and an indispensable key material in the field of modern high-tech.

Therefore, it is also known as “space metal” and “ocean metal”. Titanium is abundant in the earth’s crust, but because its ore is often accompanied by other elements, the extraction and refining process is relatively complicated. This is also the main reason why the price of titanium products has remained high. However, with the increasing advancement of domestic titanium refining technology in recent years, this material has gradually been used in daily products.