Titanium Metal Fittings

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braywood
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:12 pm

Titanium Metal Fittings

Post by braywood » Tue Aug 13, 2013 4:18 pm

I am building a Pietenpol, and have found a supply of .050" through .100" sheet in commercially pure grade 4 and .125" in 6AL4V alloy. These are small offcut pieces, but plenty big enough to have the parts cut out using waterjet.
Although the commercially pure stuff is not as strong as 4130N, it is stronger than the S510 steel specified on the drawings. The original plans called for mild steel materials...... The titanium has the added benefits of corrosion resistance and lower weight. I am looking for the disadvantages......

Any experience out there with titanium in place of 4130N? I realise this would be a mod, but before I take that step, I thought I would get some input here.
Comments welcome!
Mark
Mark Bowler
038471

Mark A
Posts: 137
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:48 am
Location: Near to Enstone

Re: Titanium Metal Fittings

Post by Mark A » Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:53 pm

6AL-4V is actually grade 5. Grade 4 is unalloyed.

Although the strength may be higher, the stiffness is only about half of the chromoly steel.

That may not matter unless it is relevant to vibration issues or structural torsion or bending stiffness.
You could recover the stiffness by increasing the thickness about 25%, but that would take away some of the weight saving.
Mark Albery
014377

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