Titanium And The Ocean—The Application and Prospect Of Titanium In The Field of Ships

The 21st century is called the”century of the Ocean", which is the century in which mankind strides towards the ocean and develops and uses the ocean. Engineering materials going to the ocean must have the characteristics of high strength, corrosion resistance, high toughness, etc. Titanium metal is light, high strength and corrosion resistant. It is a high-quality light structural material, known as“marine metal”, especially suitable for light marine equipment, and is one of the new key materials in the field of marine engineering.

Titanium alloy is an alloy composed of titanium elements as the substrate and other elements. It has outstanding advantages such as low density, large specific strength, good corrosion resistance, good heat and low temperature resistance, non-magnetic, good impact resistance, and good welding performance. The hull components are made of titanium alloy, which greatly improves the performance of the equipment.

The application of titanium alloy for ships is mainly concentrated in Russia, the United States, Japan, China and other countries. After decades of research and development, a marine titanium alloy system has been formed to meet the development needs and characteristics of the country.

Application Of Titanium In The Marine Field

(1) Submarine. Russia is in the international leading position in the research and production skills of creating titanium alloy submarines, and it is also the first country to create pressure-resistant shells with titanium alloy titanium tubes.

(2) Titanium Alloy Ship. Japan has good practical experience in making titanium ships. In the 1990s, Dongbang Titanium Company, Risheng Industrial Company, Tengxin Shipyard, Jiangteng Shipyard, etc. have created all-titanium fishing boats or speedboats.

(3) Atomic Power Ship. Russia uses titanium alloy instead of stainless steel to make steam engines, heat exchangers and coolers for ships, overcoming corrosion damage.

(4) Related Parts of Deep Submersibles and Rescue Ships. The United States, Japan, and France have all built deep submersibles. The pressure-resistant housing is made of titanium and titanium alloy.

(5) Sonar Deflector. Titanium alloy sonar deflector has superior induction function and is used in the sonar system of the Russian aircraft carrier “Kursk”, “Titanium Minsk”and“Kiev”.

(6) Propeller. Propeller data needs high strength, good corrosion function in seawater medium, erosion resistance and vacuole corrosion resistance, titanium alloy can meet the above inductive functional requirements.

(7) Ship Pumps, Valves and Pipe Systems. For the working conditions on the pumps, valves and pipes on the ship are very harsh, the use of copper and stainless steel to make pipes only takes 2 - 5 years to live. After replacing the titanium alloy, it has an outstanding effect and is suitable for high flow rate dynamic seawater pipelines.