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To evaluate what is the strongest metal on earth, we first need to explore a suitable evaluation system. One of the basic facts we need to know is that there are different criteria for judging the strength properties of different aspects of metals. The indexes to measure the mechanical properties of a material include: tensile strength, yield strength, hardness and so on. Among them, the tensile strength, measured in pounds per square inch (psi), reflects the maximum load the material can bear without fracture. The yield strength measures the stress required to cause permanent deformation.

The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank O.Gehry, is located in Bilbao, Spain. The building is made of titanium alloy and glass. TIM GRAHAM / GETTY IMAGES tungsten has the highest yield strength and tensile strength of all pure metals and is arguably the strongest metal in the world. However, it is not the hardest metal element, or even the densest metal. When it comes to pure metals, finding the strongest metals also raises a question: must the strongest metals be natural metal elements (non-alloy metals)? Alloys of many different metals can also be used. Steel is considered to be the strongest alloy on earth.

Let's take a look at the strongest metals on earth and their amazing uses.

Compared with other metals, tungsten has the highest melting point (3695K) and the ultimate tensile strength (142000psi). Tungsten and its alloys have long been used to make incandescent bulbs and as filaments for TV tubes. For its part, the metal tungsten has a Mohs hardness of 7.5 (diamond is 10), but the hardness of the compound tungsten carbide is much higher (9.5), and tungsten carbide is often used to make tools.

Alloy steel is formed by iron (metal) and carbon (non-metal) according to a certain ratio. The proportion of iron, carbon and other added elements is different in different types of alloy steel. For example, to make stainless steel, chromium is added to the steel. Carbon steel contains a higher proportion of carbon and is stronger than other alloy steels.

Osmium osmium is one of the densest natural metals in the world. However, osmium is brittle, so osmium is rarely used in alloys. You can find osmium in the circuit components.

Chromium if we only take the hardness of the metal as the only measure of metal strength, then chromium can be considered to be the strongest metal in the world. Chromium has a Mohs hardness of 8.5, making it the hardest metal on earth. It is also resistant to corrosion, so chromium plating is very common for metal anti-corrosion.

The element titanium is named after the giant Titan in Greek mythology. Titanium has the highest tensile strength per unit mass. Titanium alloys (made up of titanium and other metal elements) have a higher tensile strength-to-mass ratio than any metal on earth. Pure titanium is as strong as steel, but its weight is 45% lighter than steel.

Titanium has a particularly high strength-to-mass ratio and is the material of choice for aircraft engines and aircraft fuselages, rockets and missiles-anywhere that requires metal parts that are as tough and lightweight as possible. Although titanium is not a particularly rare metal, the price of titanium has gone up because of the high cost of mining and producing titanium. The world's largest airliner, the Airbus A380, uses 70 metric tons of titanium and is mainly used in the manufacture of A380 engines. Due to the innovation of metallurgical technology known as "Knox process" in the 1930s, the commercial forging technology of titanium entered a stage of all-round development in the 1940s and 1950s. Titanium alloy was first used in military aircraft and submarines (titanium was used in both the United States and Russian armed forces), and then gradually used in commercial aircraft in the 1960s.

The discovery of titanium as early as 1791, William Gregor (William Gregor), an English priest interested in mineral research, picked up some strange black sand in a stream near Cornwall. Some of the sand was magnetic, and Gregor concluded that it was iron oxide, but it was not clear which material the other substance was. Gregor thinks it must be another oxide, but the substance is not recorded by the Royal Geological Society. In 1795, German chemist Martin Heinrich Clapoulos (Martin Heinrich Klaproth) also independently discovered this strange oxide and named it titanium oxide after the Greek mythology Titan.

Although titanium oxides were discovered in the late 18th century, it was not until 1910 that Matthew Hunter, an American chemist who worked for General Electric, separated pure titanium from the oxides. Matthew Hunt found a way to separate titanium, a silver metal, from oxide using a sealed high-temperature and high-pressure cavity.

Titanium will not rust and corrosion is an electrochemical process, with the passage of time, most of the metals will be destroyed because of the corrosion process. When metals are exposed to oxygen, whether in the air or underwater, oxygen grabs electrons from metal atoms to form what we call metal "oxides". One of the most common oxides obtained by corrosion is iron oxide, which is common rust.

But not all metals undergo a continuous corrosion process. When titanium comes into contact with oxygen, the surface of titanium is oxidized first and a thin oxide layer of titanium dioxide is formed. This oxide layer is so tight that it actually protects the deeper titanium from most acids, alkalis, pollution and salt water.

Titanium has innate excellent anticorrosive properties. This makes it an ideal material not only for aircraft, but also for metal parts exposed to highly corrosive sea water. Almost all of the ship's propellers are made of titanium, as are the ship's internal ballast, piping system and ship hardware exposed to sea water.

The thin layer of titanium dioxide that can exist in our bodies to protect titanium from corrosion also makes titanium the safest material to be implanted into the human body. Titanium has excellent "biocompatibility", which means that titanium is non-toxic and non-allergic to human beings, and can even be fused with human tissues and bones.

Titanium is the preferred material for surgery and is often used as the basic material for bone and joint implants, cranial plates, roots of dental implants, artificial eyes and ears, heart valves, spinal fusion compounds, and even urethral stents. Studies have shown that titanium implants trigger the body's immune system, causing bones to grow directly on the surface of titanium, a process known as osseointegration.

Titanium is often used as the first choice for fixation needles in hip arthroplasty and fracture surgery. in addition to "biocompatibility", another major reason is that titanium has a very high strength-to-mass ratio, so titanium implants are usually very light. and it has almost the same toughness as human bone.

Titanium alloy is also the material of choice for golf clubs and other sports equipment. As the price of pure titanium fell in the late 20th century, manufacturers began to look for more commercial applications for this amazing metal. The high strength of titanium, which can be achieved with light weight, makes it ideal for sporting goods. The first titanium golf clubs went on sale in the mid-1990s, including a giant golf club from Callaway called Great Big Bertha. These clubs are expensive compared to steel or wooden clubs, but the success of these titanium clubs has prompted other sporting goods manufacturers to dabble in titanium alloys. Today, you can find titanium in any sports equipment that is critical to lightness, strength and durability: tennis rackets, lacrosse sticks, skis, bike racks, baseball bats, hiking and hiking equipment, camping equipment, and even horseshoes for professional racehorses.

White pigments (including food additives) also contain titanium, of which only 5% of the 5.7 million metric tons of titanium produced each year is forged into metal. Most of the titanium produced is used to synthesize titanium dioxide, and yes, it is the same titanium dioxide that naturally forms to protect titanium from corrosion. Around the world, titanium dioxide is widely used as a non-toxic white pigment for paints, cosmetics, medicines and food, including white cake sugar coating.

White paint used to be made of lead pigments, but when people gradually learned about the health hazards of lead, the composition of lead in white paint products was replaced by titanium dioxide. Facts have proved that the use of titanium dioxide instead of lead in white pigments has brought unexpected results.

White paint based on titanium dioxide is chosen for house paint because of its excellent anti-corrosion effect and longer life. At the same time, titanium dioxide has a high reflectivity to light, so it can reflect more natural light than diamonds and produce a particularly bright white hue.

Titanium dioxide also reflects infrared light, which is why titanium-based coatings are always used on the outside of solar observation devices to scatter infrared light that affects imaging.

reference

[1] Ed. Jonathan Law and Richard Rennie. A Dictionary of Chemistry (8 ed.) 2020. (Oct. 10, 2023) Https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198841227.001.0001/acref-9780198841227

[2] Deziel, Chris. "What Are the Top 10 Strongest Metals on Earth?" Sciencing. Mar. 13, 2018. (Oct. 10, 2023) Https://sciencing.com/top-10-strongest-metals-earth-2595.html

3] "Mohs hardness." Encyclopedia Britannica. Sept. 15, 2023. (Oct. 10, 2023) Https://www.britannica.com/science/Mohs-hardness

4] "Tensile strength." Encyclopedia Britannica. Sept. 22, 2023. (Oct. 10, 2023) Https://www.britannica.com/science/tensile-strength.

[5] "Tungsten, W." MatWeb. (Oct. 10, 2023) Https://www.matweb.com/search/datasheet_print.aspx?matguid=41e0851d2f3c417ba69ea0188fa570e3

[6] WebElements. (Oct. 10, 2023) Https://www.webelements.com/

Author: Dave Roos & Sascha Bos

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Revision: there are interests in the future

Original link: What Is the Strongest Metal on Earth?

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ID:cas-iop), author: Dave & Sascha

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