Timeline for When and how did the West lose its dependency on the USSR for titanium?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
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| Apr 6, 2016 at 22:30 | comment | added | DrZ214 | Mate, you are seriously overreacting. If you've read my comments from other answers here (and let's be honest, you can read those for free from your chair), you could see I know more than the first thing about Titanium. It took me 2 comments before you put a timestamp or source on anything (other than a Chinese myth). I don't appreciate being told I know next to nothing and have made no attempt to find anything on the web, especially when my comments here can easily show otherwise. We ask for sources and clarity when we see none and don't usually get a personal attack in return. | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 17:15 | comment | added | CGCampbell | +1 ( and I was never a down-vote ) thank you for adding the sources, it moves your answer away from opinion and towards fact. (by the way, all I've ever wanted from you were sources to back up your opinions) | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 17:02 | comment | added | Schwern | @TylerDurden Thanks for updating. The facts are now more correct, and demonstrates domestic ore production, the conclusion doesn't follow. It assumes production of raw metals remains constant, or increases, over time. It assumes ore production = very high quality metal needed by the SR-71. It assumes the SR-71 will get all the available titanium; most titanium ore is used for pigments and alloy additives and there are competing users (remember that 195 tons for the rails). | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 15:15 | comment | added | Tyler Durden | @Schwern Thank you for pointing out my mistake. I have updated the answer to be more exact and show the exact production of titanium in 1918 which is a better example. | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 15:14 | history | edited | Tyler Durden | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 6, 2016 at 6:20 | history | edited | Schwern | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 6, 2016 at 6:19 | comment | added | Schwern | I found the book and the cited passage and linked them both in. While it does say "titanium rails" it's clear from the surrounding discussion they mean a steel-titanium alloy. On page 272 they state it's "about 2 pounds [of titanium] per ton of metal poured" which means only about 196 tons of titanium. This makes the conclusion wrong (plus, quality is a huge factor). Since it's based on an incorrect reading, I've taken the liberty of striking out the conclusion. Apologies if I've overstepped, but the whole final third of the answer no longer works. | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 6:10 | history | edited | Schwern | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Link to the book and correct the cited facts, it's about a steel/titanium alloy, not titanium metal. The conclusion is now false.
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| Apr 5, 2016 at 22:34 | history | edited | Tyler Durden | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 5, 2016 at 21:19 | comment | added | DrZ214 | Once again, you have stated no timeframe for your comment. For all we know, those titanium deposits in USA were unknown in 50's and 60's. And no no you do not need "only a few tons". SR-71 was 30.6 tons unloaded, and 80% of that is 24.48 tons. There was also a very large research project to finally find the right Ti alloy, which I imagine consumed much much more. | |
| Apr 4, 2016 at 16:34 | comment | added | Tyler Durden | @DrZ214 You don't need a "large" source of titanium to build a spy plane. They require only a few tons of material. There are huge deposits of ilmenite, one of the ores of titanium, in Virginia, less than 250 miles from Washington DC. I could probably list ONE HUNDRED titanium ore bodies in the United States just by searching on MineDat for a few minutes, so you need to rethink your "impressions" or maybe read one of the USGSs many publications on titanium ore deposits. | |
| Apr 4, 2016 at 16:18 | comment | added | DrZ214 | You haven't stated and timeframe in your answer, so I think you missed the point that I was asking about early post-WW2 time, 1945 - 1970. Back then the titanium sources were much fewer. Obviously USA does not depend on Russian sources today, because there are at least a dozen Ti mines in Africa and other parts of Asia. It has been very hard for me to find dated information way back in time, but from reading a lot about aircraft and space industry, I get the strong impression that the West had no large native sources of the stuff at least up to the 1960's. | |
| Apr 4, 2016 at 15:40 | history | answered | Tyler Durden | CC BY-SA 3.0 |