Titanium skid plates

[greybrick]

I'll put the info up as it may be useful to some who want to reduce their total vehicle weight and still provide some underside, frontal and rear protection to their truck;

http://www.ticotitanium.com/plate.php#sheet

Talking with Amanda over at the Tico Titanium sales desk she says that a lot of her orders for custom cuts are either for offroad truck or atv skid plates, the common size asked for is 1/8 inch thick - 11 guage and the price is $30 per pound, so at about 3 pounds per square foot for 11 guage a gas tank skid plate would probably cost something around $200 or less and some work to build brackets and install the guard.

In terms of strength factor 1/8 inch titanium looks to be about the same as 1/4 to 3/16 inch common aluminum alloys and about the same as 1/8 inch stainless steel at half the weight with the similar upside of no corrosion.

For heavier vehicles 3/16 titanium plate would probably work fairly well in some areas.

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[ntsqd]

A downside to Ti is that it absolutely can not come in contact with any Chlorinated solvents. Those penetrate the metal and form a mushy salt inside a seemingly robust part.

 

[Schattenjager]

In Alaska, those titanium plate are popular for the weight / strength factor. I believe that many have them powder coated to avoid any chlorine contact.

 

[gearbox]

Seems prohibitively expensive to me! I'd go coated steel for that reason alone. Or for weight savings, maybe even a custom steel waffle with a sheet of...UHMWPE? I'm cheap.
At my work we can't have chlorinated solvents, lead, silver, or cadmium come into contact with titanium.
Are you just bending or will there be welding? You may be limited to TIG if welding.

 

[Will0051]

Yeah to weld Ti you have to TIG it. It looks cool when you TIG it though.

 

[gearbox]

Yeah to weld Ti you have to TIG it. It looks cool when you TIG it though.

Unless you're VERY good friends with someone with an EB

 

[nvprospector]

TIG is not the only way to weld titanium and here is a list of fusion welding process that can be used.

1. GTAW (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding)(Tig)
2. Direct Current Straight Polarity
3. Electrode Negative
4. PAW (Plasma Arc Welding), with argon or mixtures of argon and helium.
5. GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding)(Mig) of titanium. Although being performed successfully, requires special attentions, like Direct Current Reverse Polarity, Electrode Positive, and is considered for joints at least 13 mm (0.5 in) thick.

Titanium reacts readily with air, moisture, grease, dirt and refractories to form brittle compounds. Reaction of titanium with gases and fluxes makes common welding process such as gas welding, flux cored arc and submerged arc welding unsuitable.

The techniques and equipment used in welding titanium are similar to those required for other high-performance materials, such as stainless steels or nickle-base alloys. Howerver greater demand and attention to cleanliness and to the use of auxiliary inert gas shield needs to be maintained. Molten titanium weld metal must be totally protected from contmination by air.

Now you have a welded piece of titanium. What class of titanium do you have: alpha, alpha-beta and beta. Each of these types of alloys need different types of stress and strain harding to be performed.

This is just some of the information a friend and I found out by talking with professionals in the field of welding titanium. We where researching building a sand rail out of titanium. Well, it was build and wrecked in 2 years after completion. After that project and the cost associated with it I will never use titanium again.

 

[spressomon]

Another thing to keep in mind when working/fabbing with Ti is the dust factor. Keeping Ti grindings/dust contained and cleaned up is a safe practice to avoid fire or explosion risk. Fire department's hate sloppy Ti fab shops...or at least the ones that are left!

 

[greybrick]

A downside to Ti is that it absolutely can not come in contact with any Chlorinated solvents. Those penetrate the metal and form a mushy salt inside a seemingly robust part.

Good point but I don't recall ever using carbon tetrachloride or similar under the vehicle. Titanium looks to stand up to salt water fairly well.

Seems prohibitively expensive to me!

Depends on if you are DIY. In terms of price a hardy set of factory built and shop installed steel skid plates looks way over the top to me considering the inexpensive cost of the supplied material.

...to weld Ti you have to TIG it.

Most skid plates and other replacement pieces that I've thought of such as battery carriers, etc would be attachments with brackets so welding shouldn't be an issue.

In any case scrap metal yard T6 aluminum sheet or plate, although somewhat prone to corrosion is probably a better choice in this area, given the relative high strength and low weight to very low price ratio.

YMMV

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[Mobryan]

Brick-

Ever use tap water???


Matt

 

[greybrick]

Brick-

Ever use tap water???


Matt

Howdy Matt, don't know what the fluorides would do but yep there might be something to think of there.

Driving a Cornbinder I see, how's that work for you? Probably not many here that even know what one looks like.

Got a photo of her up somewhere?

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[Mobryan]

Howdy Matt, don't know what the fluorides would do but yep there might be something to think of there.

Driving a Cornbinder I see, how's that work for you? Probably not many here that even know what one looks like.

Got a photo of her up somewhere?

.

No pics yet, it's as camera shy as I am Works great, even if it is a little thirsty. The 5 speed is a real help, the upcoming HD axles will give me the gears to actually use it. If it does break (which is rare) I can fix it with a 1/2" wrench and bubblegum

Flourides/Clorides/whateverides kill titanium. One of the first SR-71 Blackbirds essentially fell apart on the assembly line because they used tap water to wash filings and dust off the parts.


Matt

 

[gearbox]

Except for the automated milling machines, I only see titanium sanded and grinded on dry.

 

[gearbox]

On the other hand, penetrant testing on titanium uses regular water as a wash.