* Titanium is a member of the transition metals family:
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TITANIUM / Ti / 22
A hard, lustrous, silvery metal that resists attack by acids and
burns in powdered form. Five isotopes are found in nature:
Ti<48/22> / 74%
Ti<46/22> / 8%
Ti<47/22> / 7.5%
Ti<49/22> / 5.5%
Ti<50/22> / 5%
All are stable. Titanium is usually found in the form of titanium
dioxide, TiO2.
atomic weight: 47.88
abundance: 9th
density: 4.54 gm/cc
melting point: 1,660 C
boiling point: 3,287 C
valence: 2 3 4
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Titanium is produced at the level of about a hundred thousand tonnes a year. It is commonly used in aerospace applications where its high cost can be tolerated. It's actually very common, but it's hard to refine and hard to work with -- for example, it has to be welded in a dry inert atmosphere or the welds will be very brittle. Russia is a major producer of titanium; Western nations were inclined to use front companies to obtain it for military purposes.
Titanium dioxide, which is much easier to obtain than the metal, is cheap, and is used as a paint base and in cosmetics because it has excellent "covering power", coating surfaces easily. Titanium dioxide is bright white on its own, with the paint color or cosmetic color obtained from dyes in the mix.
