Alloying Titanium

Andrew Lynch

Andrew Lynch

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Feb 6, 2000
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Ok, no doubt this is a stupid question, but why is titanium not alloyed, for example, with more vanadium for increased wear resistance and therefore edgeholding? It would seem like alloying titanium with other elements such as vanadium would make it one of the very best knife blade materials available (for most purposes). Is this not possible, would it make the titanium allow weak, too expensive, or has it just not been done yet?

Imagine this:

A small neck knife made of titanium with a high vanadium percentage (10% perhaps). It would be very light, impervious to corrosion, durable, and with great edge-holding.
 
titanium is alloved with vanadium, there is an alloy 6al4v in which pure titanium is alloyed with 6%aluminum and 4% vanadium. This seems to be the hardest alloy that is commercially available and reasonably priced to the public. The problem with titanium is that it is not hardenable to any significant degree. I know of no other ti alloys that are harder . Hope that gives one answer, Im sure there are plenty others who know more about the metallurgy.
Ron Appleton
 
There are actually quite a few different Ti alloys. Six-four is simply the one that is used the most in industry, and is thus is easier to find.
 
I have a bunch of titanium of all different alloys that I got from a scrap yard years ago. Some of it is quite heavy and hard and other pieces are light. Some of it is practically impossible to cut. I used what I could to make folders and the rest is not very useful at the moment. Now I buy the 6Al4V from Halpern Titanium.
 
I have often fantasized of a Blade material consisting of Very Hard Carbides in a Titanium Matrix. Think replacing Cobalt in Talonite or Stellite with Titanium.

Why?

Titanium like Cobalt is impervious to corrosion.

A Titanium Matrix could be hardened into the Low to Mid 50's instead the Mid to Upper 40's for Cobalt in Stellite and Talonite.

I don't know if this is even remotely possible but it seems like a dream material to me.
 
Ken Onion has been getting experimental stuff from New England for over a year, Ti 6/4 sandwiched around a layer of boron carbide whiskers running vertically between the ti pieces......cuts coke bottles in half!!!!!
 
The highest Rc that I'm aware of for Titanium is about 46-47, with heat treat. That Boron-Ti sandwich sounds pretty nifty.
Emerson does make a Titanium neck knife, but I don't know if they use six-four or the beta alloy.
 
RARanney,

I thought that I remembered Mission Knives getting their Titanium Alloy into the low 50's.

Tom,

That sounds like the type of material I had fantasized about but I had no idea the someone was actually experimenting with it.
 
Mission posts a strength of 250000 psi for their beta titanium blades and 310000 for their A-2 blades. I beleive the A2 is in the upper 50's to 60 on the Rc scale. The Ti alloy should be in the upper 40's to 50 I believe. I dont remember if the hardness values were given in the table I saw. The strength of Missions beta alloys is higher than that published in one of my books on the subject.
Mr. Atwood, the heavier Ti pieces that you spoke of may be a beta alloy. The same book says that these alloys are heavier than other Ti alloys because of the heavier metals used in the alloy content.
 
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