Why Aerospace and Medical Rely on Titanium

Posted on June 06, 2023 by Boston Centerless

The aerospace and medical sectors have relied on titanium for decades. Titanium has some outstanding and unique properties that make it attractive to these markets, and is one of small group of metals that are able to meet the strict standards of the aerospace and medical industries. For these reasons, precision machined titanium usage in these sectors continues to grow. The following explores the favorable characteristics of titanium in more detail as well as the steps Boston Centerless is taking to grow its titanium offerings and improve responsiveness to better support our customers.

Why Titanium is the Preferred Material for Aerospace and Medical Industries

Titanium is commercially available in several pure grades as well as many alloys, with each having a defined set of properties that make it suitable for specific applications across the aerospace and medical sectors. Within the medical market, applications for titanium products include pacemakers, drug pumps, defibrillators, various implants, hearing aids, screws for bone repairs, medical instruments, and more. As for the aerospace market, titanium parts are often found in the landing gear, airframe, and various components within the engine. Below are several key attributes that make titanium an excellent choice for aerospace and medical applications.

Superb Strength-to-Weight Ratio: titanium has a low density compared to other metals which enables an excellent strength-to-weight ratio. Titanium is stronger and lighter than steel, in fact, titanium weighs ~60% of steel by volume. This is a huge advantage as the aerospace sector can utilize titanium products to reduce the weight of an aircraft without sacrificing structural integrity and strength. Lighter aircraft result in significant savings due to lower fuel consumption as well as wider flight ranges. Similarly, medical applications such as implants benefit from titanium’s outstanding strength-to-weight ratio.
Excellent Corrosion Resistance: titanium offers extreme resistance to nearly all forms of corrosion. When exposed to air or pure oxygen at high temperatures, titanium forms a passive oxide coating that protects titanium from oxidation and other types of corrosion. This attribute increases the life span of titanium parts when compared to other metals, and reduces the potential for weak points or failures caused by corrosion issues.
Proven Biocompatibility: one of the reasons the medical sector relies on titanium is that some grades of titanium are biocompatible, which means titanium can remain in constant contact with living tissue and bone without any adverse effects. For this reason, titanium is an ideal option for a myriad of medical and dental implants. More specifically, titanium is able to bind with bone and living tissue, reducing the potential for rejection and making it an excellent material for orthopedic and other types of implants. Additionally, titanium is not magnetic, which means titanium implants do not interfere with medical procedures, such as MRIs.
Low Thermal Expansion: some metals tend to expand when exposed to high temperatures, resulting in deformations or weaknesses that may lead to reduced life spans or even failure. Conversely, titanium has a low thermal expansion rate, making it a great material for use in aerospace applications that experience wide temperature changes under various altitudes and climates.
Superior Longevity: titanium parts are durable and proven to last decades in medical and aerospace applications.

Do you have a titanium application that requires precision machining?

Contact our team to learn more about how we serve the aerospace and medical markets and our proven expertise with titanium grinding.

Expanding our Titanium Offerings to Improve Responsiveness

At Boston Centerless, one of our goals for 2023 is to improve customer responsiveness. In recent years, we have all observed the ugly consequences of supply chain disruptions. To improve supply chain strength, Boston Centerless keeps an extensive volume of raw material inventory on hand, and we recently added additional Titanium stock to increase our ability to support our customers. This extra titanium, along with our 98% OTD record, will allow us to be more nimble in responding to our customers’ evolving needs.

The titanium we source is of the highest quality and will meet the stringent requirements of the medical and aerospace sectors. Titanium is notorious for being difficult to grind; however, the team at Boston Centerless leverages decades of know-how and experience to grind titanium to tighter tolerances and greater precision than the competition. Furthermore, our titanium is available in coil form which enables our team to draw to size. Coil form delivers more flexibility for our customers as we are able to draw to smaller diameters before grinding, enabling us to offer multiple diameters of titanium. Boston Centerless offers the following titanium alloys and pure grades:

Ti 6AL-4V
Ti 6AL-4V ELI
Ti 6AL-7Nb
Commercially Pure Grades: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

About Boston Centerless

Boston Centerless provides solutions that enhance our customer’s manufacturing processes. With 65 years of precision grinding expertise, we grind the tightest tolerances in the industry. We have proven experience with an extensive range of materials, and our manufacturing solutions include:

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