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OCR for page 11
Chapter 3
BACKGROUND OF THE U . S . TITANIUM IN1)USTRY
A special ambiance has surrounded titanium' s f irst three decades.
The titanium industry developed as quickly as that of any structural
metal in history and with unprecedented involvement of the government as
bankrolled, customer, research and development sponsor and participant ,
allocator (during shortages), and scourge (in the price-fixing trials of
the 1970s). Its development also featured the ad hoc creation of a
unique consortium of government, industry (both producer and user),
academia, and research institutes that selected alloys from the
laboratory and pilot-produced and established them ready for production
via a multiyear, multimillion dollar program reflecting the national
interest.* All this was accompanied by an unprecedented, spontaneous,
worldwide research and development effort reported in a continuing series
of international symposia held every four years. This chapter touches on
some of the aspects of this background that aid in elucidating titanium'
first three decades and that cast some light on its probable future.
This chapter touches on some of the aspects of this background that
aid in elucidating titanium's first three decades and that cast some
light on its probable future.
Unique Features
Important aspects of the story of structural titanium metal are
unique in the annals of metallurgical history. Mysterious, fascinating,
exciting, frustrating, unusual, expensive, lavish, vital, critical--such
are the terms used to describe titanium's development from the curiosity
of the 1930s and 1940s through its short adolescence to its high degree
of maturity in the l950s, an early maturity that ironically has created
its current problem of incipient obsolescence in the United States. Only
in the case of the Manhattan Project for the development of enriched
uranium and the atomic bomb has there been a concentration of scientific,
technical, and financial support for a single metal (certainly to a
single structural metal) similar to that devoted to titanium from the
early 1940s to the late 1950s. Never did a metal receive such attention,
not only technically but also from the political arena and the world of
finance. No other structural metal--normally considered a mundane
subject--has been so extravagantly and variously described as the "Wonder
*The Titanium Alloy Sheet Rolling Program of 1954-1962.
11
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12
Metal" (at f irst for its wonderful properties and later, during periodic
dips in demand, for the wonder of where the next order was coming from),
the "Middleweight Champion of the Elements , the "Cinderella Metal, " the
" Glamour Metal, " and the "Metal of Promise . " No other metal has
continued to play, over a period of almost 40 years, to
standing-room-only audiences in technical symposia or has been the
exclusive sub ject of a continuing series of international conf erences .
This has been the case because titanium (by itself or as an alloy)
offers a unique combination of physical, mechanical, and chemical
properties. From the beginning, it promised much to the designers in the
vi tat, youthf ul aircraf t and inf ant jet engine industries and was
plentiful beyond serious concern In many places around the globe,
including the United States.
Titanium's primary association with a single industry, aerospace, is
another unique aspect of the material. Currently a full three-fourths of
titanium production goes to this industry and a major portion of this is
for defense applications. This situation has had a major effect on the
structure of the titanium industry that probably will continue in the
near future. To the aerospace industry, titanium has become a glamorous
recess' ty. Its high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios,
outstanding corrosion rest stance, and other highly desirable attributes
originally promised enormous improvements in the performance of aerospace
vehicles. This appeal not only exists but is reflected in ever-widening
applications.
Pre-Industrial History
Titanium (as an oxide) was recognized as early as 1790 (by Gregor, an
English clergyman) and partially ductile nuggets of the metal were
produced in 1910 by M. A. Hunter, an American professor. It was not
until the mid-1920s, however, that small wires of ultra-pure, ductile
titanium were produced by the Dutch scientists Van Axkel, de Boer, and
Fa st by dissociation of the tetraiodide, a technique invented by General
Electric's Irving Langmuir. Inspired by this development, W. J. Kroll, a
prototypic lone inventor of Luxembourg, began experiments that led to his
demonstration in 1937 of the magnesium reduction process that bears his
name and continues to be the primary process for producing titanium.
Kroll's demonstration, essential though it proved to be, was only on
the laboratory scale, and a decade of pilot experimentation was required
before the first trial production could be attempted. The pilot work was
launched and conducted by the U. S . Bureau of Mines in 1938 under the
guidance of R. S. Dean, and coworkers (Dean and Silkes, Dean et al.
1946) . Af ter studying virtually every process that had been proposed for
the production of titanium, they concluded that the Kroll process was the
most practical for large-scale operations. By 1947, the Bureau had
successfully piloted several important modifications of the original
process and had produced 2 tons of sponge metal.
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13
The Start of the Industry
In 1948, based on the Bureau's work, E. I. du Pont de Nemours &
Company built and started production in the world' s f ~ rst titanium sponge
production facility. The first commercial titanium from du Pont was
melted and processed to sheet by Rem-Cru Titanium and then sold f or
experimental use to Republic Aviation for the Thunderjet and to North
American Aviation for the Sabre jet. Also ~ n 1948, 200 industrial,
technical, government, and military leaders met in a Navy-sponsored
conference and the titanium industry was off to an enthusiastic start with
aircraft designers excited and planning early application. By 1953,
annual production was 2 million pounds, and the Douglas DC-7 flew with
titanium nacelles and firewal~s. Demand and production grew rapidly. To
the aircraft and titanium industries it was euphoria, the first heady
upswing in the production curve ~ Figure 1) .
So great was the demand for titanium that in 1957 the U.S. Air Force
inf ormed the sponge producers that "we face a shortage. " However, the
ecstasy of 1957 was transformed into the agony of 1958, the first of the
many o scillations in supply and demand that have plagued the industry
(Figures 2-5~. Military strategy shifted from dependence on manned
aircraf ~ to emphasis on missiles,
0 f the ti tanium incus try ~ dropped
and military demand ~ then the lif e-blood
dramatically and, consequently, so did
titanium production and sponge prices. The surviving titanium producers
of that period, deserve a lasting tribute for their faith and perseverance.
The IJ. S. titanium industry has suffered from these periodic
reverse, s. In the l950s it was the world leader both in technical
know-how and quantitative production but now has lost its early worldwide
lead in sponge production to the Soviet Union and Japan although it
continues to meet most domestic titanium needs. The outlook f or the U . S.
titanium industry' s future is made brighter by the recent conversion of
the Teledyne Wah Chang Albany zirconium sponge production facility to
vacuum-distilled titanium sponge production. Included in this brighter
note is the extant introduction of the D-H Titanium Company electrowinning
process, the continued pilot production by TIMET of its own electrowinning
process, plus the planned new facility of International Titanium, Inc.,
that is based on the latest Japanese and U.S. Kroll technology.
It is important to remember that aerospace requirements continuously
have dominated the demand portion of the titanium production and
consumption equation. Both the military and civilian sectors provide
demand projections but their reliability is questionable for reasons
related to military philosophy, national budget, national economic health,
airline strength, foreign competition in aircraft, and several other
factors. (Many of these are discussed by the military itself in Appendix
D. ~ Encouragingly, the nonaerospace applications for titanium (see
Chapters 8, 9, and 10) are increasing, and this should provide increased
stabilization and incentives to the U. S . titanium industry.
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G
14
1950
1955
1 960
1965
1970
1975
1980
Emerging Gas Century Series
Turb'ne Powered F 100
A'rcraft
F101
FJ2 F 102 B52H
FJ3 F104 BS7
Government FJ4 F105 KC135
Overcommitment f3H F106
Manned Aircraft Deemphasized
in Favor of Missile Strategy
B-58 A-11
Missile
Bu ild-up "Titan" YF-1 2A
Minuteman I
"Polaris"
F8
V.N. F8111
F111
RFIII
F-14
Post War
Retrenchment F-1 5
F-14and F-15
Production Peak
B1
Cancelled
Reexaminat~on of
Military Posture
F5
_ 1
11
11
11
F4 XB-70
Series
-C
D
J,K
E,M
C-141
OV-10
_
I P3
Hel icopters
F-16 Development
F-18
AWACS
B1
Development
, - . . ~Range results from wide~anging data
1985 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Ml LLIONS OF POUNDS
Figure 2 Military aerospace and other titanium use.
SR-71
C5A
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15
1950
1 955
1960
1965
CC
"\
1 970
1975
1 980
T. . .
Itanlum In
Commercial
Aircraft
Commerc ial
Airl ins
Fleet
Bu ild-up
SST
R&D
~ ~sivl! ROW Materiills Pureh:'sing Program
Wide
Bodied
Lets
SST
Cancelled
Energy
Crunch
Airline Retrenchment
DC-7
DC ~B-707
Design B-720
and
Derivatives Convair
880
B-727
DC-9
DC-10
B-2707 (SST)
B-737
B-747
B-727
L-101 1 STRETCH
Business
Jets
OC-9
STRETCH
Convair
990
B-757
Range resu Its f roan wide-ranging data
1 985 ~ I 1 3 ZO 30 40
Ml LLIONS OF POUNDS
Figure 3 Commercial aerospace titanium use.
1 1 1 1
50 60
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16
1950
1955
1 960
-
a:
LU 1965
1970
1 975
1980
Reported
Range
1985 ~-
Hardware for:
Corrosion resistant applications
Pumps, valves, piping, vessels, mixers
IVechanical advantages
Centrifuges, ultrasonics (pickups), memory
Chemical, electromagnetic, electronic
Vacuum gettering, cryogenics, condensers
Sports equipment
Golf, tennis, sailing, climbing, bicycling
Holding baskets for nickel electroplating
Medical prosthetic devices
Hip, knee, finger joints; pacemaker cases
High performance automotive appl ications
Marine deck fittings, piping systems
Cathodes: electrorefining and electrowinning (Cu.)
Anodes: Chlorine and chlorates production
itydrometallurgical processing (Ni ores)
Desalination plants
Pulp and paper industry
Electric power generation:
Surface condensers, turbine blades
Chemical and petrochemical production
Fossil fue' production (down-hole equipments
_ ~._ ~
0 1 0 20 30 40
MILLIONS OF POUNDS
Fissure 4 Industrial sector titanium use.
50 60
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1950 rim
t955
-
960
~ 1965
UJ
1970
975
1 10 20 30 40 50 60
t 985 .
0 t 0 20 30 40 50 60
:
, _
17
Emerging Gas Turbine Powered Aircraft
Titanium in Commercial Aircraft
Department of Defense
Excitement and Overcommitment
Military Manned Aircraft Deemphasized
in Favor of Missile Strategy
Missile Build-up
Commercial Airline Fleet
Expansion Programs
-
VIET NAM
Build-up
-
A-1 1
YF12A
SR-71
SST R&D
Inventory Adjustmenu
Vl ET NAM
PEAK PRODUCTION
Post V let Nam R etrenchment SST
X
Wid~bodied Jet Build-up
F14 and F15 Production Peak
Energy Crunch
Airline Retrenchment
Nonaerospace Use Increasing
B1 Cancelled
'`The Slings and Arrows
of Outrageous Fortune!"
1 1 1 1 1 1
Ml LLIONS OF POUNDS
Inventory Build-up
Figure ~ Titanium mill product shipments (million of pounds).
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The heterogeneous structure of today ' s U . S. . titanium industry is
another important factor in considering its capability to satisfy future
national needs. In the early years, it was natural Chat nrim~rv An
lay in producing sponge. Encouraged
t ~ ~ ~ . _ ~ . ~ = ~
by government aid (for a new material
already considered extremely important to defense) through the medium of
procurement contracts, a number of companies entered the field. These
actions were inspired by the enthusiasm of both the government and the
aircraft industry and anticipation of continued, if not astronomical,
growth in demand.
The new companies often were composed of two other companies, one of
which was a steel manufacturer that contributed presses and aging hand
sheet mills. These new firms included REM-CPU (formed by Remington Arms
and Crucible Steel), Titanium Metals Corporation of America (TMCA) and it
TIMET division (formed by National Lead and Allegheny Ludlum Steel),
CRAMET (formed by Crane Company and Republic Steel), Dow Chemical, Union
Carbide, RMI Company ~ originally f armed as Mallory Sharon Titanium
Corporation by Mallory and Sharon Steel and later replaced by National
Distillers and U. S. Steel), and others of more limited activity.
s
The enthusiasm prevalent at that time was further fostered by
congressional hearings that strongly encouraged rapid expansion of
facilities to meet anticipated military requirements. However, within a
relatively few years, confronted by technical and production problems and
by diminishing demand from military sources, most of these companies left
the t itanium f ield . By 1966 only two, INCA and RMI, remained, but OREMET
began operations on a small scale to increase the total to three 5.S.
producers. It is significant that a steel company is a part owner of all
three and that the participating organizations are mainly concerned with
industrial interests other than titanium. This obviously influences
capital investment decisions. (A list of present and prospective titanium
sponge producers worldwide and their capacities is given in Chapter 10.)
Inf restructure of the Industry
The production of sponge is a capital- and technology-intensive
operation, and as a result, the total number of sponge producers
throughout the world is quite small. With the virgin metal available,
primarily as sponge, the next major step is conversion into ingot by
melting, f allowed by conversion into mill or cast products. Powder metal
technology is another possibility (see Chapter 11~.
The infrastructure of the titanium industry, beyond the raw material
(ore) stage, may therefore be broadly divided into three categories:
sponge producers, ingot melters, and product converters. A fourth
somewhat different Category may be identified as the scrap dealers and
scrap reclaimers. Thin these broad categories, however, there are
additional subdivisions.
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19
Among the sponge producers are integrated producers that cover the
whole gamut from sponge (in one case even a direct interest in ore) to
final mill product. Among the melters are integrated producers that
melt their own sponge. The other nonintegrated melters buy their
sponge from domestic or foreign sources and either convert the ingots
themselves, have the ingots converted by others on a toll basis, or
sell ingots to other companies for conversion. The converters
(including forgers) buy either ingots or mill products (e.g., billets
or bars) for further processing. Figure 6 diagrams these structural
d ivi signs .
The scrap processors obtain scrap from numerous sources (e.g.,
sponge, ingot, foundry, sheet trimmings, bar ends, turnings, scrapped
parts). Indeed, every stage from sponge to finished product is a
source for scrap. Several dealers already acquire scrap for furnace
consolidation and recovery, and advanced reclamation techniques are
under development.
The rather complex infrastructure illustrated in Figure 6 is a
cause of some of the problems in the sponge supply and demand
re lationship. For example, sponge f rom an integrated U . S . producer,
although satisfactory for its own operation, usually is not
universally suitable for the independent melters (Chapters 5 and 6'
In addition, during threatened shortages, the integrated producers
understandably tend to retain their sponge for their own use,
aggravating the situation for the nonintegrated melters. The latter
therefore have tended to rely primarily on foreign sources
(Chapter 8~. They do this partly to assure a source of supply and
part ly because of the price, and superior melting quality of the
f oreign sponge ~ Chapter s 5 and 6 ~ .
lIo st domestic producers f avor the current import tarif f on sponge
but two new U.S. producers and the nonintegrated melters are opposed
to it. The tariff clearly has not functioned to promote plant
modernization. It would therefore be useful for an ad hoc panel to be
appointed to develop recommendations on what ad valo rem tax, if any,
the United States should impose on future sponge imports.
Furthermore, the foreign sources increasingly are converting their
sponge to ingot or subsequent product stages. This development may
further increase the current vulnerability of the nonintegrated
melters to foreign sponge shortages.
Model for Cooperative Research and Development
It is worth mentioning, before completing this brief review, an
activity that conceivably could serve as a precedent for significant
titanium research and development (R&D) programs in the future. The
activity was known as the Titanium Alloy Sheet Rolling Program and was
pursued in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In recognition of the need
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SPONG E
Powder Fraction
at..
INGOTS _
1
| Castings | rMILLPRODuCTs ~ .
_
20
U.S. SPONGE PRODUCERS
~-
_ _
~_
U.S. SPONGE MELTERS _
_ .
Foreign Sponge
| INGOTS
CONVERTERS
, 1
Castings | | MILL PRODUCTS:
__ 1 ~
CONSUM ERS |
CONSUMERS I
.
_ _
reincludes companies whose only business is castings.
"Companies who do not melt but who make product from ingot, mill products, or
powder; not necessarily all U.S.-based (e.~., Atlas Steel of Canada).
Figure 6 Infrastructure of the U. ~
1 ~
| Refined Products |
,
CONSUMERS
.
titanium incus try e
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for a high-strength, heat-treatable, workable, sheet alloy, a joint
program was initiated by the three military services and the Department
of Defense to develop and bring such an alloy to early production. Aided
by the Materials Advisory Board (predecessor to the NMAB) of the National
Research Council, an integrated program was devised. It started with
discuss) ons with aircraf t designers and continued through alloy
development and production to technical evaluation and data acquisition
in laboratories and aircraft plants. Aside from its very considerable
technical success (still pertinent), the activity was impressive,
noteworthy, and unprecedented in terms of outstanding planning,
coordination, cooperation, and implementation among a number of
government agencies, industrial organizations, academic institutions, and
industrial research laboratories. This program was efficient,
economical, and productive, and an organized program of similar
dimensions may well be an optimum means to explore one or more of the
technical opportunities described in Chapter 11 of this report.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
sponge producers
