Liberal Arts Blog —Titanium — Biocompatibility, Strength-To-Density Ratio, Resistance To Corrosion
Liberal Arts Blog — Wednesday is the Joy of Science, Engineering, and Technology Day
Today’s Topic — Titanium — biocompatibility, strength-to-density ratio, resistance to corrosion
Titanium was discovered in 1791 by an English clergyman named William Gregor who was the vicar of St. Mary’s Church in Devon and whose hobby was mineralogy. He had a degree in chemistry from Cambridge University. 234 years later titanium alloys are used in jet engines, missiles, spacecraft, not to mention consumer, industrial, and agricultural products. And then of course there are the “prostheses, orthopaedic implants, dental implants, and surgical instruments,” Hallelujah!
Every day is a great day to marvel at the mysteries of the Periodic Table! The intricacies of each and how they combine with others to make things like us, non-stick frying pans, and ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons.
This is the 26th in a series on the marvels and mysteries of the Periodic Table. We began with phosphorus, then nitrogen, potassium, sodium, calcium, oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine, carbon, copper, iron, and lead. Then we proceeded to silicon, zinc, magnesium, gold, platinum. Then a break to discuss the eclipse. Then a return with molybdenum, helium, Iodine, manganese, lithium, and most recently, fluorine. What do you know about titanium that the rest of us might delight to learn?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
BIOCOMPATIBILITY — “In the 1950s surgeons noted that titanium metal was ideal for pinning together broken bones” (see Emsley, “Nature’e Building Blocks”
1, “It resists corrosion, bonds well to bone, and is not rejected by the body.”
2. “Hip and knee replacement, pace makers, bone-plates, and screws and cranial plates for skull fractures can be made of titanium and can remain in place for up to 20 years.”
3 “Titanium implants have been used for attaching false teeth via metal plugs inserted into the jaw bones.”
TITANIUM DIOXIDE IS USED FOR PAINT, SUNSCREEN, AND FOOD COLORING — used in two thirds of all pigments (and let’s not forget lipstick)
1. ‘The titanium oxide industry started in the 1930s when paint manufacturers were seeking a replacement for white lead.”
2. “It is non-toxic, does not discolor and has a high refractive index which explains the brillant whiteness titanium imparts to domestic appliances such as fridges, washing machines and tumble driers.”
3. “Titanium dioxide ointment is used as a sunscreen because it prevents ultraviolet rays from reaching the skin.”
AS METAL STRONG AS STEEL BUT 43% LIGHTER! — two thirds of it “ends up in aircraft engines and frames” (below, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, sheathed in titanium)
1. “Titanium has its drawbacks such as low thermal and electrical conductivity.”
2. “It lacks the elasticity of steels, becoming brittle when exposed to hydrogen gas, and tends to stick in contact with other metals.”
3. “Although it is difficult to produce, titanium metal justifies its cost. The thin oxide layer on the surface of titanium enables it to resist the corroding action of sea water and so it is used in offshore oil rigs, in the hulls of some submarines, and for propellers, shafts, rigging and other parts of ship exposed to sea spray and water.”
NB: “Architects are beginning tou se titanium cladding for buildings, an example of which is the Guggenheim Museum. This occupies a waterfront property in Bilbao, Spain, and is sheathed in 33,000 square meters of pure titanium sheet….The roof of the new central station of Hong Kong’s railway consists of 6500 square meters of titanium sheeting.”
FOOTNOTE — from discovery (1791, Cornwall, England) to naming (1795, Berlin), to isolation 1910 (General Electric, USA)
1. Reverend William Gregor (1761–1817), above, discovered it when analyzing some black sand he found “at the side of a stream in the nearby parish of Menachan.” He thought of naming it “menachanite.”
2. In 1795, German scientist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743–1817), named it after the Titans of Greek mythology. They were the twelve sons of that charming couple Uranus (heaven) and Gaea (earth). Parenthetically. Klaproth, a chemist and apothecary had previously discovered uranium and zirconium (in 1789).
3. “It was until 1910 that Matthew Arnold Hunter (1878–1961) working for General Electric in the USA, made pure titanium by heating titanium tetrachloride and sodium metal under high pressure in a sealed vessel. That yielded 99.8% pure titanium which now revealed itself to be a rather remarkable metal: easily worked, incredibly strong, retaining this property at high temperature, and very resistant to corrosion.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium
Martin Heinrich Klaproth — Wikipedia
My favorite chemistry book: John Emsley, “Nature’s Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements.”
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENT BELOW -
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to science, engineering, or technology.
Or, even better, the coolest or most important thing you learned in your life related to science and engineering.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
