Recently, a friend asked: Can titanium conduct electricity? Friends asked more vague, my answer is also very vague: titanium is not a bad conductor of electricity

Titanium is divided into: pure titanium (TA2/GR2) and titanium alloy (TC4/Gr5), which is generally referred to as titanium.

titanium (TA2/GR2) block

Pure titanium (TA2/GR2)

Pure titanium (TA2/GR2) is composed of titanium and a small amount of impurities. Titanium has good electrical conductivity, making pure titanium (TA2/GR2) excellent in electrical conductivity. In addition, the lattice structure of pure titanium (TA2/GR2) also has a positive impact on its conductivity. Pure titanium (TA2/GR2) lattice structure belongs to the body-centered cubic structure, there are a lot of free electrons in the lattice. These free electrons are able to move freely within the lattice, thus forming a good conductive channel. This structure allows pure titanium (TA2/GR2) to have a high conductivity and be able to conduct current effectively.

  titanium (TA2/GR2) block

Titanium alloy (TC4/Gr5) is not a good electrical conductor. If the conductivity of copper is considered to be 100%, the conductivity of titanium is 3.1%.

The electrical conductivity of titanium alloy materials is relatively poor, with a resistivity of about 1.5-2.5μΩ·cm, which is much higher than that of copper (about 1.7μΩ·cm) or aluminum (about 2.7μΩ·cm) under the same conditions. This is caused by the strong internal resistance and layered structure of the titanium alloy material itself.

The non-conductivity of titanium alloy material is mainly caused by the defects of its internal grains, grain boundaries and empty holes. When the current passes through the titanium alloy material, these defects will produce scattering, affecting the flow of the current.

In addition, titanium is generally difficult to see in nature, as well as in daily life pure titanium (TA2/GR2). Because titanium is more active, it is easy to form an oxide film with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and so on in the air. The presence of the surface oxide layer will also make its electrical conductivity decline the real reason.

Although the electrical conductivity of titanium alloy materials is not as good as that of traditional metals such as copper and aluminum. It is widely used in semiconductor devices, conductive coatings and so on.

titanium (TC4/Gr5) block