Titanium vs Steel: Which Metal is Right For You?
Titanium and steel might look the same but many differences push them ways apart in terms of application, properties, and costs.
If you’re interested in choosing between steel and titanium read this guide where we cover the differences between titanium versus steel and gather tips from experienced engineers to help you decide which has superior strength.
If you’re only looking for a strength comparison between titanium and steel, then YES—titanium is much stronger than steel.
By: Tuling Engineering Team 10 Minute Read
Tuling manufactures on-demand titanium parts with custom finishes. This is a guide on how we can help you choose titanium or steel for your project.
Titanium
Titanium is a metal element that is found in nature. Like all metals, it reacts with oxygen, forms alloys, and has distinctive properties.
Titanium is an abundant metal on earth but despite being in such large quantities it is not used in most commercial applications. Keep reading to find out why!
Titanium does not occur in its purest form. Titanium has to be refined from its ore which is an expensive process because of the use of magnesium another expensive metal during purification.
Titanium has many qualities that make it ideal for aerospace and high-performance parts. Titanium is lightweight and possesses high tensile strength. Titanium has a tensile strength of around 240 Mpa.
Titanium has 50% the density of iron and a high melting point. In most applications, titanium alloys make the hard titanium more workable and machinable.
Steel
Steel is simply iron mixed with carbon. It is an iron alloy that has altered properties to suit better applications using a carbon mix. The most commonly used steel is stainless steel for its excellent corrosion resistance.
There are many other types of steel like mild steel, low-carbon steel, and tool steel with different alloying elements and carbon ratios.
For most applications, stainless steel can be compared with titanium. Steel is used in buildings, trusses, cars, components, and tools.
The properties of steel are similar in some areas, but in others, they are drastically different from those of titanium. Stainless steel has chromium content which gives it corrosion resistance, unlike titanium which is naturally corrosion resistant.
Let’s take a closer look at the properties of steel and titanium and understand how they are different.
Properties Comparison Titanium vs Steel
Titanium and steel look extremely similar but react differently to the environment. They have different weights, densities, and purification processes.
Composition
Titanium is a naturally occurring element with a composition of almost 99% titanium and 1% mixture of iron, palladium oxygen, and some other elements. This is the purest grade of titanium or titanium alloy available commercially.
Steel on the other hand is an alloy made from iron and carbon. Stainless steel in particular has iron, less than 2% carbon, and above 10% chromium. This gives stainless steel a similar appearance and corrosion resistance which are comparable to the properties of titanium.
Density
Both titanium and stainless steel are made of different elements, so they have different densities, buoyancy, and mass for the same shape and dimension.
Titanium alloys have a density of around 4.51 g/cm3 or 4.51 kg/m3. This density is for the purest titanium alloy. The range of density is around this and for some other titanium alloys the density is
- Ti Grade 4 : 4.51 Kg/m3
- Ti-6Al-7Nb : 4.52 Kg/m3
- Ti-15 Mo: 4.96 Kg/cm3
Stainless alloys have varying densities and there are dozens of stainless steel grades each with a different composition and density. Stainless steel density ranges from 7.5 g/cm3 to 8.0 g/cm3.
What do the densities mean for steel and titanium alloys?
The densities tell us that titanium alloys are light weight, almost half the weight of steel. You can choose titanium metal over stainless steel for parts, applications, and projects where weight is a concern.
Large passenger-carrying planes use about 70 tons of titanium for this reason.
Stiffness
Stiffness means how easily a metal deforms when there is a load. The stiffness of stainless steel is around 200 GPa and the stiffness of titanium is 116 Gpa.
Titanium vs steel stiffness shows steel can resist loading and physical forces better than titanium. You should also remember titanium is almost half the weight of steel and it is still useful in many applications for high strength to weight ratio.
Hardness
Hardness is measured by how much force it takes to indent a material. Both titanium and steel have a high hardness level. However, comparatively, steel has a much higher Brinell or Rockwell hardness level.
Mild steel has a Brinell hardness of 140 and stainless steel has a Brinell hardness number of 200. Grade 420 of stainless steel has a Brinell Hardness number above 450. Steel alloys can range from 130 to 500 in hardness value.
Most titanium alloys have a Brinell Hardness (BH) value of around 200. Pure titanium has a hardness value of little less than 120 HB. Titanium alloy can reach up to 295 BH.
Durability
Titanium versus steel durability depends on corrosion resistance, strength, crack and fatigue resistance. These mechanical properties are used to predict the durability of both steel and titanium.
- Impact resistance: Steel alloys with high carbon content are much more impact-resistant than titanium grades. This is because titanium is more brittle.
- Temperature performance: Titanium performs much better than steel in high-temperature environments. Titanium has a higher melting point and steel tends to lose its strength over certain temperatures.
- Fatigue resistance: Titanium has a fully lamellar microstructure giving it a higher fatigue resistance or the ability to handle repeated stress cycles. Some steel alloys have comparable fatigue resistance but titanium alloy tend to last longer under repeated stresses.
- Wear resistance: Wear is the overtime removal of a material from its surface as it is being used. Varying strengths of steel have different wear resistance but most types of stainless steel are more wear resistant than titanium.
Ultimately, the high strength-to-weight ratio of titanium, light weight corrosion resistance, and temperature resistance make it more durable for high-performance applications like jet engines.
Melting Point
Titanium vs stainless steel heat resistance can be assessed from its melting point. Titanium has a melting point of 1668 °C and the melting point of stainless steel ranges from 1400 °C to 1530 °C.
Conductivity
Titanium pure or alloyed has poor electrical conductivity. It has a conductivity of around 2.38 x 10^6 S/m or 3.1% IACS which means it has 3.1% the conductivity of copper.
Stainless steel has a conductivity of around 1.45 x 10^6 S/m making it a worse conductor than titanium.
Welding
Whenever selecting a metal between titanium vs steel many other factors should be taken into account like machinability, cost and joining methods for assemblies.
If you’re using titanium and joining different parts, you should know welding titanium is much more complex and energy intensive. Welding titanium requires much higher temperature than welding stainless steel. It also requires special welding kits and more use of fuel and special filler material and electrodes.
Stainless steel is one of the most welded materials and their filler rods are commercially available at a much smaller cost. Stainless steel can be welded using mig welding, arc and tig welding easily.
Strength
Titanium strength versus steel can be compared using the property relationship of titanium with steel and comparing strengths.
- Tensile Strength: Titanium versus steel a battle of strength shows titanium has a tensile strength of 240 Mpa. and steel has a tensile strength of 400 – 500 Mpa.
- Strength to weight ratio: Titanium has a higher strength-to-weight ratio and is about 40 – 45 % lighter than stainless steel types.
Ease of Working
Titanium parts need to be machined and cut for your project. Titanium is difficult to machine because of its hardness and there are special carbide cutting tools for titanium. This proves titanium has technical and commercial limitations which make it expensive to machine.
Titanium can be alloyed with other metals to make it more machineable and there are titanium alloys specifically made for ease of machinability. Otherwise machining titanium results in early tool failure.
Stainless steel is easier to machine and high strength tool can be used to easily machine steel.
Malleability
Malleability is an important property of metals. In simple terms, its the flexibility of the metal. Malleability is how far a metal can bend without any breaking or crack formation. Titanium is a brittle metal and can fracture under pressures.
At high temperatures, titanium is more malleable but steel is a much more malleable metal than titanium. It can be shaped and cold worked easily without breaking.
Applications of Titanium
Titanium is used in many industries including aerospace, medical devices, sporting, defense, research, and textile.
In the aerospace industry titanium is used for its high strength, light weight, corrosion resistance properties. Titanium lighter alloys like aerospace grade titanium 6 Al-4V Titanium is used in jet engines for its high strength.
Titanium is used in specialized equipment mainly because titanium delivers high corrosion resistance. It is used to coat steel structures in marine applications to improve strength and corrosion resistance.
Turbine blades, condensers, and plumbing commonly use titanium because titanium boasts excellent corrosion resistance.
Why Is Titanium So Expensive?
Titanium alloy proves ideal for multiple applications because of its high corrosion resistance, lightweight and excellent strength. Titanium stands as a pure metal with a naturally forming resistant oxide layer whereas stainless steel is made corrosion resistant by adding chromium.
It is naturally found all around us in plants, animals, and the earth, then what makes titanium so expensive?
Titanium extraction process is much more complex than mining or recycling iron. Titanium is purified from titanium dioxide and the chemical reduction of titanium from its oxide makes it an expensive process.
Even though titanium is abundant on earth, titanium stands as a rare metal and its purification limits the commercial viability of titanium. Titanium manufacturing involves heat treatment, melting, and giant heated vessels to process heated titanium chloride which adds to its manufacturing costs.
FAQ
Is titanium stronger than steel?
To measure the strength of a metal tensile strength is used and stainless steel has a much higher tensile strength and is stronger than titanium.
Does titanium bend easier than steel?
Steel is much more malleable or bendable than titanium. Even though titanium has a lower stiffness theoretically it is easier to bend than steel. However, bending titanium industrially requires special tools because it has a higher strength.
What is the strongest metal?
Neither steel nor titanium are stronger than tungsten. Tungsten is the strongest metal on earth with a tensile strength of 980 Mpa.
