Opportuni es and Challenges for the Industrial Titanium Market

The industrial tanium market is the second largest segment of the tanium industry and currently comprises less than 20 % of the overall tanium market. In spite of a more than 50 year history of successful applica on in corrosive environments myths about availability, fabrica on, pricing and corrosion resistance are s ll part of the conversa on and culture with many poten al customers. The author will discuss these issues and present comparisons with other common materials of construc on to demonstrate the business case for tanium. With seawater/brackish water being the most common corrosive environment where tanium is applied examples of current applica ons will be presented. By highligh ng the characteris cs of tanium that led to the material choice in these examples poten al new applica ons can be iden fied. These examples will come from applica on on offshore pla�orms, LNG liquefac on plants, power genera on, desalina on and petroleum refining opera ons. Against the backdrop of the applica on analysis the author will also explore regulatory, market influences and new technology impac ng the industrial tanium market segment. Drawing on sta s cs from the Titanium Associa on and other resources a projec on for industrial growth will be presented for the next decade. My name is Rob Henson and I serve as the business development manager for VSMPO Tirus US, chairman of the Interna onal Titanium Associa on’s (ITA) Industrial Applica ons Commi�ee (IAC) and chairman of NACE Technology Exchange Group (TEG) 120X for reac ve and refractory metals. VSMPO-Avisma Corpora on is involved in the produc on and distribu on of tanium mill products for aerospace, industrial, medical, and automo ve applica ons. Titanium remains a strategic material of choice for demanding, high performance applica ons in aerospace, industrial and medical applica ons.

Against the backdrop of the applica on analysis the author will also explore regulatory, market influences and new technology impac ng the industrial tanium market segment. Drawing on sta s cs from the Titanium Associa on and other resources a projec on for industrial growth will be presented for the next decade.
My name is Rob Henson and I serve as the business development manager for VSMPO Tirus US, chairman of the Interna onal Titanium Associa on's (ITA) Industrial Applica ons Commi�ee (IAC) and chairman of NACE Technology Exchange Group (TEG) 120X for reac ve and refractory metals. VSMPO-Avisma Corpora on is involved in the produc on and distribu on of tanium mill products for aerospace, industrial, medical, and automo ve applica ons. Titanium remains a strategic material of choice for demanding, high performance applica ons in aerospace, industrial and medical applica ons.
As a global metal industry, tanium is small compared with the annual tonnages generated by steel and aluminum, yet tanium's inherent proper es of light weight, high strength, corrosion and chemical resistance, and ability to operate in elevated temperatures make it an essen al material for a spectrum of applica ons, from aerospace parts to industrial applica ons to medical components.
The industrial tanium market is the second-largest segment of the tanium industry in terms of market value. Important global industrial market sectors that u lize tanium include chemical and petro-chemical process industries, desalina on, power genera on, oil refining, natural gas processing and a broad swath of the petroleum industry from explora on to produc on. In spite of a more than 50-year history of successful applica on in corrosive environments, myths about availability, fabrica on, pricing and corrosion resistance are s ll part of the conversa on and culture with many poten al customers.
My mission today in this presenta on will be to discuss these issues and present comparisons with other common materials of construc on to demonstrate the business case for tanium. Addi onally, I will discuss the challenges faced by the industrial tanium market from both inside and outside of our industry. A very strong aerospace market is causing ghtness in supply of raw materials and producers of compe ng materials for the corrosion market are reless in their efforts to develop new specialty stainless alloys that can displace tanium on the basis of price.

Challenges for Titanium in Industrial Applica ons
While aerospace engineers talk about buy-to-fly ra os (the weight ra o between the raw material purchased and used for a component and the weight of the component itself), we have to convince clients that life-cycle cost savings related to long-term corrosion resistance, reliability and weight savings will make the business case for tanium. Unlike the aerospace market we cannot rely on high-temperature strength and low density to make our business case against compe ng materials.
In the industrial world we have to prove that the corrosion resistance of tanium, the mechanical proper es in service, acceptance to industry codes, availability of all required products/components and the delivery of fabricated equipment to the job site will be the best solu on for the customer needs. Each of these challenges is daun ng in their own right, but together they make for a very formidable challenge. Once our customers are convinced to use tanium, and if it performs as expected, it opens the door for similar applica ons throughout the market. In this way we con nually expand the use of tanium.
Each year the Interna onal Titanium Associa on-a membership-based interna onal trade associa on dedicated to the tanium metal industry, established in 1984-organizes and hosts annual conferences in North America and Europe. That conference structure recently was extended to include Asia. These gatherings serve as an important forum for industry execu ves, stakeholders and research and marke ng consultants to present their views on key trends and industry condi ons. I'd like to offer feedback from recent conferences that can help outline the size and scope of the tanium industry (1): Longbow Research of Independence, Ohio, in 2018, es mated that Western World tanium demand is 118,000 metric tons to 120,000 metric tons, with global demand seen at 197,000 metric tons to 200,000 metric tons. Sylvain Gehler, chairman of UKTMP noted that world tanium sponge capacity in 2017 was rated at 255,300 metric tons, with China iden fied as the country with the largest sponge produc on capacity at 93,000 metric tons. Gehler also noted that the global average of sponge plant capacity u liza on in 2018 was 77% and demand was expected to increase in 2019.
Ed Newman, senior vice president, United Alloys and Metals Inc., said industrial demand for tanium scrap, es mated to be just over 30,000 metric tons in 2018, is expected to rise and then level off over the next three years to an annual level of around 35,000 metric tons. Scrap pricing and inventory levels typically are viewed as bellwether indicators for tanium industry business trends.
Boeing projected that interna onal commercial airlines will need 42,700 new jets during next 20 years, valued at $6.3 trillion. Titanium is used for airframes, engine shrouds and internal engine parts, landing gear, and fasteners. Titanium Metals Corp., also known as Timet, using a composite of outlooks from Boeing, Airbus, Teal and Airline Monitor, es mated that tanium demand for commercial airframes will reach 45,000 metric tons in 2019, compared with 40,000 metric tons in 2018.
Industrial demand forecast provided by Albert Bruneau of NEOTISS observed that tanium's compe veness in industrial markets compared with alterna ve metals has been shaken with recent protec onist measures impac ng nega vely global aluminum, copper and nickel. These protec onist measures further complicate the task of predic ng demand trends over the medium to long term.

Industrial Demand Trend 2011 through 2021
An analysis of the preceding supply chain informa on suggests ghtness in the market for tanium units star ng at the oxide supply and con nuing on through sponge and recycle. Further to his report on sponge capacity report Gehler commented on April 14, 2019 that 90% capacity u liza on is about the maximum sustainable level of plant opera ons. While this would seem to indicate available sponge capacity the situa on of ghtness of raw material for sponge as well as high prices of ru le will make it difficult for sponge producers to achieve a 90% usage of the capacity.
Previous experience with such market condi ons have resulted in rising prices and alloca on of mill products to strategic applica ons within the industrial market. These market trends are very disrup ve to industrial market development as customers who have not planned well are suddenly forced to seek other solu ons when tanium deliveries are pushed out beyond normal delivery mes.
One final comment about the tanium supply chain and distribu on of units across the market segments. The aerospace market is a higher value product, the customers currently have a 10-year backlog and a 20-year forecast valued at more than $6 trillion. I can assure this audience that the aerospace customers are aware of the supply chain issues and securing tanium deliveries with long term agreements. With the industrial market being near "the back of the line" when tanium units are allocated, we can only counsel our customers to be thinking longer term about cri cal materials for their projects.

Need to A�ract End Users to the Conversa on
In an effort to disseminate informa on about the tanium industry across the full spectrum of market segments and interested par es the Interna onal Titanium Associa on has adopted a mission statement which reads: The ITA's main mission is to connect the public interested in using tanium with specialists from across the globe who may offer sales and technical assistance.
To deliver on this mission the ITA hosts annual conferences in the United States and Europe together with a semi-annual event in Asia. During these events an industrial session is organized providing a stage for the discussion of industrial applica ons. The industrial sessions are organized by the Global Industrial Applica ons Commi�ee (IAC) and our recent analysis of these events has revealed we are not a�rac ng end users to our events; in essence, we are o�en talking to other producers and vendors to the industry.
In an effort to reach the process industry end user community the IAC has been collabora ng with the NACE Technology Exchange Group (TEG120X) which hosts an annual session during NACE Corrosion USA. Over three years or par cipa on in this forum we have seen an increase in a�endance for the end user community. We believe this trend is the result of taking our message to a venue that is already well a�ended by the end users. With so much compe on in the conference world we have to go where the customers are rather than try to add another event on their calendar.

Challenges and Opportuni es
The World Corrosion Organiza on (2) es mates a US $2.5 trillion annual cost of corrosion worldwide (3 to 4 percent of gross domes c product [GDP] of industrialized countries) reflec ng in part that many decision makers in industry and government do not fully understand the consequences of corrosion or how cri cal (and costly) it is to control it. This is a call to ac on for our industrial market segment to con nue educa ng decisions makers at every opportunity on the subject of life cycle cos ng. We must assure that purchase price is not the only factor considered in material selec on and that cost of ownership over the life of the asset is fully understood.
Further evidence of this problem is highlighted in the NACE publica on "Cost of Corrosion," (3) a report based on a two year study commissioned by the U.S. Federal Highway Administra on in 1999. This near 20-year-old report unfortunately is s ll representa ve of the lack of good corrosion control across the full spectrum of the U.S. economy.
The report es mates the annual cost of corrosion to the U.S. economy at $276 billion spread across five major sectors including infrastructure, u li es, transporta on, produc on and manufacturing and government assets. For the purpose of our discussion today, I want to focus on produc on, manufacturing and infrastructure, which were es mated to cost the U.S. economy $17.6 billion and $22.6 billion, respec vely.
The produc on and manufacturing sector includes oil produc on, mining, petroleum refining, chemical and pharmaceu cal produc on, agriculture and food processing. These are all industrial segments where we have proven tanium applica ons but material choice in many of these sectors con nue to specify less corrosion resistant materials and suffer the consequences.

Offshore Opportuni es
The infrastructure sector included highway bridges, gas pipelines, ships, aircra�, railroad cars and hazardous material transport. For this sector tanium is well established in aircra�, but hardly known in ships and the shipping industry is facing a major challenge with the sulfur cap 2020 regula ons that will require either an exhaust gas scrubber or a switch to low sulfur fuel oil for the industry.
For these ship scrubbers it seems again that industry has overlooked nearly 30 years of corrosion research done by the Norwegian Offshore Oil Industry, which has resulted in a material selec on standard (4,5) for equipment exposed to seawater and sour oil or gas products. The first two years of scrubber construc on has been done with a combina on of stainless and specialty stainless steels, which are likely to suffer from crevice and microbial influenced corrosion (MIC) due to exposure to seawater. The corrosion data and standards were available to this industry, but decisions were made on price rather than reliability and safety and overall life cycle costs.
According to a 2017 report published by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (6): The ever-growing energy demand requires the explora on and the safe, profitable exploita on of unconven onal reserves (such as those in the Arc c regions). The extreme environments of some of these unique prospects challenge the boundaries of tradi onal engineering alloys, as well as our understanding of the underlying degrada on mechanisms that could lead to a failure. Despite their complexity, high-pressure and high-

temperature, deep and ultra-deep, pre-salt, and Arc c reservoirs represent the most important source of innova on regarding materials technology, design methodologies, and corrosion control strategies.
High-strength materials, including low-alloy steel and corrosion-resistant alloys, are essential to overcome the materials hurdles associated with the production of hydrocarbons from unconventional reservoirs. A multitude of corrosion-resistant alloys are used in oilfield applications, including martensitic, austenitic, ferritic, duplex, and precipitation hardenable stainless steels, solution annealed and precipitation hardenable nickel alloys, as well as titanium, cobalt, and aluminum alloys.
Strengthening the close collaboration between industry and academia is essential to develop a multi-scale understanding of the compound microstructureenvironment interactions to lead to optimal environmentally assisted cracking resistance.

Infrastructure Opportuni es
For aging and deteriora ng concrete bridges and buildings a tanium solu on (7) has been developed in research sponsored by the Perryman Company and conducted at Oregon State University. This is an excellent example of the kind of innova ve, engineering work that drives the tanium industry. Christopher Higgins, the Cecil and Sally Drinkward Professor of Structural Engineering in the School of Civil and Construc on Engineering at Oregon State University, was the 2015 the recipient of the Interna onal Titanium Associa on's (ITA) Titanium Applica on Development Award. Higgins, working with Perryman Co., Houston, PA, was cited for his role in developing a novel tanium applica on for repairing deteriora ng reinforced concrete bridges.
To prove the concept a laboratory capable of tes ng full scale concrete bridge beams was built on campus at Oregon State University. The laboratory is capable of producing and fracturing full scale beams and an environmental chamber was built to simulate freezing that thawing cycles to which bridges are exposed. Adop on of the tanium staple was greatly facilitated by these full scale test samples and the engineering data they provided.

Schema c of full scale (1210mm height x 7315mm long, 9074 kgs) beam tes ng
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), Salem, OR, selected a repair concept by Higgins-a titanium "staple" to reinforce fractures in the Mosier Bridge, an "overcrossing" of Interstate 84, which is a major east/west corridor for the state. Higgins designed the idea of the staple and the requirement of a surface treatment that would allow titanium alloy bars to be used to strengthen concrete bridges. https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/202032102007 The 14 th World Conference on Titanium

Environmental test chamber
The work that was done by Professor Higgins can open doors to addi onal infrastructure applica ons using tanium. Interna onally, civil transporta on infrastructure con nues to age and deteriorate. Society has increased demands on these systems and requires them to carry higher volume, heavier loads, and remain inservice beyond their intended design life. Simultaneously, new and larger hazards have emerged from natural and manmade sources. Large investments are needed to maintain safety, mobility, and ensure con nuous performance, yet replacement of exis ng assets is beyond fiscal reach.
Due to limited resources, strengthening, rehabilita on, and renewal of exis ng infrastructure have become necessary alterna ves to replacement. Carbon-fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) have become the material of choice for rehabilita on projects but have many drawbacks that can be overcome using tanium alloy bars. The tanium bar solu on developed by Higgins is less costly than CFRP, has be�er environmental resistance and can be incorporated into a cathodic protec on system to reduce the poten al for corrosion of the exis ng steel bars in the structure.
Challenges to widespread acceptance of tanium alloy bars for civil infrastructure include the industry's ignorance of tanium's mechanical proper es and long-term benefits, percep on that the material is cost prohibi ve, and lack of performance data for structures with tanium reinforcement.

Price Compe on
In addi on to the challenges of educa ng our poten al customers, we will likely always be faced with lower cost for common engineering materials and compe on for available tanium units. As a result we have to use tanium more efficiently by u lizing higher strength alloys, making sure that design codes are up to date and applying new technology to the manufacture of process equipment components.
The workhorse alloy of the aerospace market, Ti-6Al-4V, does not have a code case and cannot be used for the manufacture of pressure containing parts. This is a grade with a tremendous library of technical data and applica on history in the most demanding applica ons. Given the significant strength improvement and widespread produc on of this tanium grade, incorpora on of Grade 5 into the produc on of process equipment should be viewed as synergis c to the overall industry, according to James McMaster of MC Consul ng (4-02-19). Further addi ons to this value chain can be expected by the adop on of palladium containing Ti-6Al-4V Grade 24 to the code case which will greatly extend the corrosion resistance of the alloy.
Design codes for tanium process equipment were developed more than 40 years ago (8) and in many cases do not represent the quality of the metal produced in today's market. Going back to 1999 a consor um of interested par es realized that Grade 2 tanium design allowable was based on a minimum specified that was 20percent lower than 99 percent of the material currently being produced. This observa on led to a code case proposing an increase in minimum UTS for tanium Grades 2H, 7H and 16H and a subsequent 16-percent increase in design allowable stress. This code case results in the applica on of less tanium to a given piece of pressure equipment and makes the tanium design more compe ve against other materials of construc on. Division 1 essen ally establishes minimum sec on thicknesses based on formulae and the allowable stresses found in Sec on II, Part D tables. Division 1 Allowable Stresses for tanium are based on UTS/3.5. This design method is used for vessels of the simpler designs or smaller vessels.
At the me the H grades were being created the ASME Sec on VIII Division 2 (9) of the pressure code was also under development. Finaliza on of Division 2 was complete before the H grades were finalized and as such H grades were not listed, and no one has requested the addi on to Division 2.
Division 2 establishes sec on thickness based on either more sophis cated design formulae and/or allows Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to be used to more accurately define local stresses. Division 2 Allowable Stresses for Class 1 are based on UTS/3.0 and for Class 2 on UTS/2.4. The reduc on in allowable stress is termed by ASME as a "Design Factor" ("Factor of Safety" in earlier prac ce). This method is used for complex designs or larger vessels.
As the H grades have not been included in the ASME Sec on VIII Division 2 design code there are further poten al design efficiency that are not available at the present me. The Global Industrial Applica ons Commi�ee (IAC)of the Interna onal Titanium Associa on is looking to develop a "joint industry program" composed of Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) companies, tanium fabricators and other interested par es working together to develop a "Code Case" for tanium "H" alloy grades to be included in the ASME's Sec on VIII, Division 2.
This Code Case would u lize the exis ng data for 2H that was used to generate the ASME Sec on VIII-Division 1, for calcula on of the design allowable for Sec on VIII-Division 2. It has been es mated that by being able to use Titanium Grade 2H under ASME Division 2 requirements, the fabricator and the end user chemical process plant can realize significant savings by reducing the wall thickness of the pressure vessel.
One example es mates a yield savings in material use (due to a thinner wall thickness) up to 14 percent over the current Sec on VIII-Division 1 design allowable values and much more savings realized as compared to the current tanium Grade 2 values. This presenta on will briefly review this joint industry program and what needed for the approval of tanium 2H grades (including 7H and 16H) for use in the ASME Sec on VIII-Division 2 construc on code.

Plan outline for H Grade Div. 2 Code Case
In addi on to alloy development and upda ng design codes we have to look at incorpora ng new technology to the manufacture of process equipment components. Addi ve manufacturing incorporates the computer controlled applica on of energy to melt and accurately deposit solid metal to create components. These technologies offer a wide range of new design opportuni es by allowing the crea on of complex components that might otherwise have been made in mul ple sec ons and the crea on of bimetallic structures where a high strength alloy can be used as a base material and a more corrosion resistant metallic layer deposited on the surface which is exposed to the corrosive media.
Addi ve manufacturing, in recent years, has generated substan al interest in the tanium industry, however development efforts con nue to unfold and challenges remain. Art Kracke, the president of AAK Consul ng, who's been associated with the global tanium industry for four decades, said it's important to remember that addi ve manufacturing "is many technologies, not one thing. Addi ve manufacturing is an industry, not a single process." Aerospace designers are weld deposi ng solid metal on plate substrates to create structures that would have previously been machined from much thicker plate, https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/202032102007 The 14 th World Conference on Titanium again a savings in metal and an addi onal savings in machining me.
While it is clear that pressure code design work will need to be pursued for the adap on of addi ve manufacturing produced components in pressure vessels, the mo va on for those code cases seems significant-both to the end user and the tanium industrial market.

Summary Remarks
All the wonderful work being done in alloy development, design code upda ng and incorpora on of new technology will not provide the an cipated results if we do not promote them. The promo on of industrial tanium applica on is dwarfed by the effort put forth by the stainless and nickel alloy industries. Together with the coa ngs industry our metal compe tors leave li�le space for discussion of tanium. This is a most important challenge for our industrial market.
The World Titanium forum provides a tremendous technical pla�orm for discussion of tanium every four years, but in large part we are talking to industry par cipants and not to our end user base. The Corrosion Solu on Conference, which ran from 1999 to 2013 on a biannual basis, served as solid model for crea ng the stage that our industrial market needs. The IAC has acknowledged this as we face the same challenge when organizing industrial speaker tracks at our annual conferences.
In an effort to reach a broader audience, we have taken our message to other venues where process industry personnel are already a�ending. The Technology Exchange Group (TEG120X) reac ve metals forum at NACE Corrosion allows for the exchange of technology in a less formal se ng than that of a NACE symposium. This format makes organiza on of the mee ng less me consuming and more flexible as to the inclusion of new topics or recent developments.
As current chair of both the ITA's IAC and the NACE TEG120X our teams are working to organize an addi onal stage for the discussion of industrial tanium which we see as complimentary to the work of TMS with World Titanium and we are hopeful you will consider par cipa on with us to raise awareness of tanium in the industrial sector. It's in our mutual, strategic interest to cooperate in order for us to make progress.