Bryan Andrews, age 13, of St. Augustine, Fla., for his question:
WHERE DO WE GET TITANIUM?
Titanium is a silver gray, lightweight metal. It resists corrosion or rust and has a higher strength weight ratio than steel. Leading titanium producing countries are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Malaysia, Norway and the United States.
Russia also has large titanium deposts but production figures are not available.
Chief titanium producing states are Florida, Idaho, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. Quebec is the only Canadian province that produces the metal.
Titanium actually ranks as the world's ninth most plentiful element. But, strangely, the difficulty of processing makes it very expensive.
Titanium is never found in a pure state. It usually occurs in limenite or rutile. But it may also be found in titaniferous magnetite, titanite and iron.
Titanium has been around for a long time. It was discovered in England in 1791 by a man named William Gregor. It was named in 1795 in Germany by a man named Martin Klaproth.
It wasn't until 1930, however, that a refining method adaptable to large scale production was worked out by William Kroll of Luxembourg. Then in 1948, the DuPont Company became the first to produce the metal commercially.
At the present time, production of titanium remains low because of the difficulty and expense of separating titanium from the ores faith which it is found.
Titanium metal serves as an important alloying element because it united with nearly every material except copper and aluminum. It is used principally as an alloy in iron. The armed forces use large amounts of titanium in aircraft and jet engines because it is strong but light. It also withstands operating temperatures up to about 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
Titanium dioxide is used in the manufacture of linoleum, rubber, textiles paper, porcelain enamels and welding rods.Titanium is ductile, which means that it can be drawn into wire.
Barium titanate, a compound of barium and titanium, can be used in place of crystals in television radar sets, microphones and phonographs. The first commercial use of titanium was an oxide to substitute for white lead in paint. Titanium dioxide, or titanium combined with oxygen, is produced as a white pigment that has superior power to cover surfaces in painting.
Because of its superior qualities, titanium has a number of potential uses, such as armor plate and propeller blades for ships, steam turbine blades, surgical instruments and tools.
The transportation industry would use large amounts of titanium in buses, railroad trains, trucks and automobiles if the price of titanium could be lowered enough to compete with the price of stainless steel
The United States manufactures most of the world's refined titanium.
Research is being conducted to increase its supply and lower its costs.