Titanium Only – the e-zine about titanium metal and titanium applications

Credo of Titanium Black, heavy metal band
Summary:

1. Some thoughts regarding titanium as an investment metal

2. New titanium applications

3. Titanium joke of the day

4. Latest developments of titaniumexposed.com

The current economical crisis and the grim outlook of the near future that seems to have been firmly established in the people minds have generated an unprecedented trend of buying precious metals as an investment.

The gold, silver, platinum and platinum metals have all reached historically high prices and the trend seems to be nowhere near a changing point. Presumably the prices will still go up indefinitely. Well, everybody knows that this turning point will coincide with the end of recession and with the onset of a new growth cycle of the economy, but, unfortunately nobody seems to be able to predict when this is going to happen.

As a side note, from where I stand, given the overall level and the amplitude of the effects of the current financial crisis, and the appearance of some new crisis everyday – the municipalities bond crisis, the food supply crisis, the oil supply crisis – it seems more likely that this recession will actually never end, but we’d rather going to live some very interesting times in the near future.

Back to the point, the precious metal group has reached such unprecedented high price levels, that there are many that simply cannot afford to invest in them anymore. Unfortunately, the need to invest in this kind of tangible assets is caused by insecurity in the economical future, which, as I already said, is still prevalent. And, as we all said, there are little if any, good alternatives.

That’s why there are more and more people that start to explore titanium as an investment metal. There are indeed some similarities between titanium and the other metals from the precious group. Titanium is used – and increasingly extensive, I may add – in jewelry. True, but the quantity of titanium jewelry produced and marketed globally is nowhere near the quantity of platinum jewelry, which is the smallest in the traditional triad – gold, platinum, silver.

The price of titanium jewelry sometimes matches the price of the similar golden items, indeed. But it is the complicated machining of titanium that accounts for this price, and not the value of the metal itself.

Titanium is still considered by many rare. It is not, there are many places where titanium is found. It is hard to process and it is never found in pure form, unlike gold, silver or platinum.

And the final argument. Titanium is competing steel as a structural metal. The production capacities are expanding year by year. Assuming it would ever be traded as a precious specialty metal, a mere month surplus of some now idled titanium plant in China would cause a market crash.

But titanium presents a good investment opportunity in the form of stocks of several titanium companies. Both TIMET and ATI have shown good financial reports and their quotes have increased. DuPont – the largest titanium dioxide provider is at the fourth price increase announcement.

Word is that, if something is going to change, it’s going to be a conceptual change from quantity – mass industrial production – to quality and high technological value. This is where titanium really shines. So, if you’re planning on investing in something, stocks of titanium companies may be the solution you’ve been looking for.

2. New titanium applications

Chanel was without a doubt the one brand to make the use of ceramic popular a few years ago, when introducing the J12 watch. In the mean time the black and white ceramic versions of the watch have been a huge success and in time for Basel World the brand is about to introduce a very interesting new version of the watch – the J12 Ceramic Titanium. More masculine in looks, the watch comes in a steel grey color way, with all parts being made of ceramic and titanium.

A cowboy walks into a bar and takes a seat next to a very attractive woman. He gives her a quick glance then causally looks at his watch for a moment. The woman notices this and asks, "Is your date running late?" "No", he replies,” I just got this state-of the-art titanium watch, and I was just testing it." The intrigued woman says, "A state-of-the-art titanium watch? What’s so special about it?" The cowboy explains, "Well, apart from the fact is nearly indestructible and hypoallergenic, it also uses alpha waves to talk to me telepathically." The lady says, "What’s it telling you now?" Well, it says you’re not wearing any panties." The woman giggles and replies "Well it must be broken because I am wearing panties!" The cowboy smiles, taps his watch and says, "Damn, this thing’s an hour fast."

4. Latest developments in titaniumexposed.com

An interesting question was raised by James, from UK, and it has been answered in the on-line free database about titanium, Titanium Info.
Jim was curious about titanium’s low Linear Coefficient of Expansion and about an explanation regarding the reason of this characteristic. So, the coefficient linear of expansion is about the thermal expansion of different materials, when exposed to an increased temperature. When a substance is heated, its particles begin moving more and thus usually maintain a greater average separation. The degree of expansion divided by the change in temperature is called the material's coefficient of thermal expansion and generally varies with temperature. The linear thermal expansion coefficient relates the change in a material's linear dimensions to a change in temperature.
You can see the full answer here.

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