Twenty years ago, Titanium was marketed as a high-end unobtanium metal for luxury items or aerospace components. It was an expensive addition to any product line and most consumers wouldn’t consider it for their day-to-day car. Fast forward twenty years and Titanium is being used for common items, and it’s reasonably priced. The question now is it a good functional option or more of a fashion item?
What Characteristics Does Titanium Have?
Titanium is a chemical element with the periodic symbol Ti. It’s found in nature only as an oxide, and you’ll commonly see it transformed into a transition metal with a silver color. The material has a low density, high strength, and is naturally heat and corrosion resistant. These properties make it a good compound to be alloyed with iron, aluminum, vanadium, and molybdenum to produce strong, lightweight alloys for aerospace parts, military applications, industrial machinery, automotive, medical, and more. If you need a strong, lightweight, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant product, Titanium is always on the list.
Raw Titanium Facts Include:
- Commercially pure grades of titanium have an ultimate tensile strength of ~63,000 psi. This is equal to common, low-grade steel alloys, but is less dense.
- Titanium is 60% denser than aluminum but more than twice as strong as the most commonly used 6061-T6 aluminum alloy.
- Titanium is non-magnetic and a poor conductor of heat and electricity.
- The current processes for extracting Titanium from its various ores are laborious and costly and must be done under strict conditions to prevent the Titanium from combining with other elements.
- As of 2021, the four leading producers of titanium sponge were China (52%), Japan (24%), Russia (16%), and Kazakhstan (7%). The United States doesn’t produce Titanium.
- Titanium must be welded in an inert atmosphere of argon or helium to prevent contamination with atmospheric gasses of oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. Contamination can cause embrittlement.
TSP Goes Titanium
Knowing Titanium has tremendous performance potential, Two Step Performance has added Grade 5 Titanium fasteners to the large array of products for the Honda 1.5T and 2.0T engines. These can replace your factory steel studs that will eventually corrode and become a nightmare to remove without breaking them. Each stud kit includes a matching number of washers and 12-point nuts. The cylinder head to turbocharger requires 4 studs, the turbocharger to downpipe requires 4 studs, and the downpipe to front pipe requires 3 studs. TSP is offering kits of 4, 8, or 11 studs depending on how many you would like to replace, and best of all the fitment is the same for all Honda 1.5L turbo and 2.0L turbo engines.
Properties of Titanium Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5):
Grade 5 Titanium is one of the most popular alloys in the Titanium industry and makes up almost half of the Titanium used in the world. Commonly referred to as Ti-6AL-4V (or Ti 6-4), this designation refers to its chemical composition of almost 90% titanium, 6% aluminum, 4% vanadium, 0.25% (max) iron and 0.2% (max) oxygen. It has excellent strength, low modulus of elasticity, high corrosion resistance, good weldability and it is heat treatable. The addition of aluminum and vanadium increases the hardness of the material in the alloy matrix, improving its physical and mechanical properties.
Separate Kits Currently Available:
- Titanium Exhaust Stud Kit for Honda 1.5T and 2.0T
- Titanium Turbo Inlet Pipe Stud Kit for Honda 1.5T and 2.0T
- Titanium Strut Tower Hardware Kit for Honda 1.5T and 2.0T
(Please note that these hardware kits are not compatible with every combination of exhaust pipe connections or turbocharger options. Consult each product page to ensure the kit will work for your exact setup.)
Titanium is lightweight, high-strength, corrosion-resistant, and relatively economical as an option to replace factory steel parts that will eventually give you headaches. They are both fashionable and very functional, and we plan to add many Titanium products to our shop cars to reduce weight and add functional bling.
