DEVELOPMENT OF TITANIUM

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27502, 9 November 1954, Page 6

DEVELOPMENT OF TITANIUM

ADVANTAGES SEEN IN NEW METAL

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, November 6. The payload of Britain's V-class atom bombers may be increased by more than a ton as the result of developments in the manufacture of titanium, says the science correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph.” He adds that this metal combines lightness with great strength and resistance to corrosion. The raw materials of titanium, originally discovered by an English country clergyman, are ilmenite and ruthenite, which are abundant in the earth’s crust.

In its partly purified “sponge” form it costs about £1 14s per lb on the American market. At the Fulmer Research Institute, near Slough, Buckinghamshire, Dr. L. E. Webb has said a new process is being developed, details of which are secret. It is hoped it may eventually enable the British price, of £1 per lb of some grades to be halved.

A senior official of one of Britain’s larger aircraft companies said that if a process were found that made available sufficient quantities of titanium, it* employment in engines in the V cten of bombers would lead to a total reduction in the weight for four engfaaa of one ton. .