Titanium metal
is used in automotive applications, particularly in automobile or motorcycle
racing, where weight reduction is critical while maintaining high strength and
rigidity. The metal is generally too expensive to make it marketable to the
general consumer market, other than high-end products, particularly for the
racing/performance market. Late model Corvettes have been available with titanium exhausts.
Titanium is used
in many sporting goods: tennis
rackets, golf
clubs, lacrosse stick shafts; cricket, hockey, lacrosse, and football helmet grills;
and bicycle frames and components. Although not a
mainstream material for bicycle production, titanium bikes have been used by
race teams and adventure cyclists.
Titanium alloys are also used in spectacle frames.
This results in a rather expensive, but highly
durable and long lasting frame which is light in weight and causes no skin
allergies. Many backpackers use titanium equipment, including cookware,
eating utensils, lanterns, and tent stakes.
Though slightly
more expensive than traditional steel or aluminium alternatives, these titanium
products can be significantly lighter without compromising strength. Titanium
is also favored for use by farriers, since it is
lighter and more durable than steel when formed into horseshoes.
Titanium has
occasionally been used in architectural applications: the 40 m (131 foot)
memorial to Yuri Gagarin, the first man
to travel in space, in Moscow, is made of titanium for
the metal's attractive color and association with rocketry. The Guggenheim
Museum Bilbao and the Cerritos
Millennium Library were the first
buildings in Europe and North America, respectively, to be sheathed in titanium
panels. Other construction uses of titanium sheathing include the Frederic C.
Hamilton Building in Denver, Colorado and the 107 m (350 foot) Monument to the Conquerors of Space in Moscow.
Because of its
superior strength and light weight when compared to other metals traditionally
used in firearms (steel, stainless
steel, and aluminium), and
advances in metalworking techniques, the use of titanium has become more
widespread in the manufacture of firearms. Primary uses include pistol frames and revolver cylinders. For these same reasons, it is also
used in the body of laptop computers (for example, in Apple's PowerBook line).
Some upmarket
categories of tools made to be lightweight and corrosion-resistant, such as
shovels and flashlights, are made of titanium or titanium alloys as well.
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