Visions - Summer 2009 - 5

Steel & Non-Ferrous Metal Group The Space Age Metal With Mettle The Strength of SCOA’s Titanium Business Keeps Aircraft Flying and Hopes For The Future Soaring W hen German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth created the monicker for a newly discovered metal in 1791, he decided on the name “titanium,” derived from the Titans of Greek mythology, to show the strength of this element. Similarly, SCOA’s Non-Ferrous Metal Unit has found strength in its longstanding titanium business, making it a titan in this very profitable venture, with over 14 million pounds of titanium shipped in 2008. Long referred to as the “space age metal,” titanium is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal, silver in color and low in density.Titanium is always bonded to other elements in nature, and exists as the ninth-most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and the seventhmost abundant metal in the world.Titanium can be alloyed with iron and aluminum, among other elements, to produce strong lightweight alloys, and that makes it valuable to manufacturers looking to purchase quality building components. Due to their high tensile strengthto-density ratio, high corrosion resistance, and ability to withstand moderately high temperatures without creeping, titanium alloys have become essential in the creation of aircraft, armor-plated vehicles, naval ships, spacecraft, and missiles. “In 1952, Sumitomo Corporation became a sole agent of Osaka Titanium’s metallic titanium sponge export business,” said Takahiro Hayakawa, Product Manager in SCOA’s Non-Ferrous Metals Unit, “so SC has been in this business in North America for half a century or so. Having said that, Sumitomo Corporation’s titanium business is highly complex, not just in metal trade but from raw material to the final products in the marketplace. Our main supplier is Osaka Titanium Technologies, and we supply titanium to U.S. titanium mill manufacturers like ATI Allvac, RTI,TIMET, PCC, ALCOA, and others.” The processing of titanium metal occurs in four major steps: reduction of titanium ore into “sponge”, a porous form; the melting of that sponge, or sponge plus a master alloy to form an ingot; primary fabrication, where an ingot is converted into general mill products such as billet, bar, plate, sheet, strip, and tube; and secondary fabrication of finished shapes from mill products.When alloyed with other elements, titanium goes into a variety of aerospace components including critical structural parts, fire walls, landing gear, exhaust ducts in helicopters, and hydraulic systems. According to Hayakawa, SCOA currently imports titanium from Japan in three general forms: sponge, powder, and high purity billet. Sumitomo Corporation of America 5
Visions - Summer 2009

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