Since the discovery of titanium in 1790, humans have embarked on a century long arduous exploration to achieve its extraordinary performance. In 1910, humans first made titanium metal, but the application of titanium alloys was arduous and long, and it was not until 1951, 40 years later, that industrial production was achieved.
China has been working on the research and application of titanium alloy processing since the 1960s.
Titanium alloy has characteristics such as high specific strength, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, and fatigue resistance. Titanium alloy of the same size weighs only 60% of steel, but has higher strength than alloy steel. Titanium alloys are often used in medical fields, such as artificial joints, bone fixation devices, dentures and so on, due to their good properties.
Titanium alloy is widely used in aircraft structural components and heat-resistant components, and is one of the main structural materials for contemporary aircraft and engines, known as the "space metal".
But titanium alloy is like a strong horse that must be tamed to achieve its goal of traveling thousands of miles a day. So how can titanium alloy be "tamed"?
Titanium alloy has poor thermal conductivity, high hardness, and is prone to rebound. The thermal conductivity difference is reflected in the customized processing of titanium alloys, where the heat generated by friction is very large. If it is other metals, it will quickly transfer to the whole, such as the pots we usually use.
However, titanium alloy has poor thermal conductivity, which continuously accumulates heat, causing it to become sticky, making the cutting tools brittle, severely worn, and even damaging them, just like cutting rubber candy with a knife.
Titanium alloy has a high hardness, and the processing of aluminum alloy materials used in airplanes is relatively simple: processing 1 meter of titanium alloy material can process 25 meters of aluminum alloy material, and it is also more cost saving. However, the strength of aluminum alloy is difficult to meet the requirements, so although titanium alloy processing is difficult, it is very necessary. Moreover, titanium alloy has severe rebound, which affects the machining accuracy of parts, especially for thin-walled and complex shaped parts, which are more difficult to process.
With the increasing maturity of titanium alloy processing technology and the continuous improvement and improvement of processing equipment and tools, it is now possible to achieve stable processing of ultra large structural components and precision complex parts. Its processing accuracy can be stabilized at 0.2 millimeters, and locally it can reach 0.1 millimeters, which is the thickness of an A4 paper, or even more refined, and the processing efficiency has significantly improved.
Strong milling, shallow cutting high-speed milling, etc. make the processing of titanium alloy parts faster and more stable. We have developed methods such as superplastic forming for titanium alloy sheet metal processing, compressed air stirring for chemical milling treatment, and small current rapid welding for welding to tame these fierce horses.
Titanium alloy, as a thousand mile horse, can only be used for aviation equipment manufacturing by us. We believe that with the continuous research and exploration of the vast number of scientific and technological workers in the aviation industry, our understanding of titanium alloy is gradually deepening. We will have more means to tame titanium alloy as a thousand mile horse, and it will make greater contributions to China's aviation industry!
