Titanium is considered as a rare metal because it is dispersed in nature and difficult to extract. But its relative abundance ranks tenth among all elements. Titanium minerals mainly include ilmenite and rutile, which are widely distributed in the crust and lithosphere. Titanium also exists in almost all living things, rocks, water bodies and soil. Extracting titanium from main ores requires Kroll method or Hunter method.
The most common titanium compound, titanium dioxide, can be used to make white pigments. Other compounds include titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), which is used as a catalyst to make smoke screens or figures in the sky, and titanium trichloride (TiCl3), which is used to catalyze the production of polypropylene.
Titanium can be alloyed with other elements such as iron, aluminum, vanadium or molybdenum to produce high-strength light alloys, which are widely used in various fields, including aerospace (jet engines, missiles and spacecraft), military, industrial processes (chemical and petroleum products, seawater desalination and paper making), automobiles, agricultural foods, medicines (prostheses, orthopedic implants and dental instruments and fillers), sporting goods, jewelry and mobile phones. .
The two most useful characteristics of titanium are corrosion resistance and the highest strength-to-weight ratio among metals. In the unalloyed state, the strength of titanium is similar to that of some steels, but its weight is 45% lighter.