Why we love Titanium.
On this episode of Glimpse we talk about our love for titanium and why we use it for most of our products. For our customers, who had the unfortunate chance of dropping your phone with our cases, you would realise that it is not the case that gets damaged but the floor that gets a dent.
About Titanium
A material used in the most demanding environments such as in aircraft components, missiles, and formula one vehicles, Titanium has been around for the last two centuries, but it was only with the Kroll process in the 1930s that Titanium could be extracted in industrial amounts.
Over the past decade, it has began to slowly penetrate many markets including the luxury industry. Today we discuss the unique properties of Titanium, as well as share some of our favourite products created in Titanium.
When you think of Titanium, three terms should come to mind: Strength, Lightness and Exclusivity. With Grade 5 Titanium having a strength of around 1000 MPa, more than two times stronger than that of stainless steel, Grade 5 Titanium has been called upon in the production of formula one frames and engines, due to its unique strength and fracture toughness. However, it is in its lightness that Titanium truly puts most other materials to sleep. About half the weight of steel for the same volume, holding a piece of Titanium is truly an experience in itself.
It was the extraordinary lightness and toughness of Titanium that lent itself for use in the Concorde project, the British-French supersonic passenger airliner. It has also been used in the US Airforce SR-71 Blackbird, the world's fastest supersonic plane during the Cold War, with over 85% of the plane's body being made of Titanium.
Despite these incredible properties, Titanium has not found its way into most commercial applications, due to its exclusivity and high price. While materials such as Aluminium are abundant in the Earth's crust, Titanium is far less common, and its ability to react with oxygen means that it cannot be found naturally in its pure form.
Rather, it has to be extracted from mineral ores using a series of costly and intricate chemical reactions. As a result, Titanium production is extremely expensive, and can cost over 50 times that of a plain carbon steel.
Discover More:
Advent Titanium for the Samsung S10+
Richard Mille 11-03 in Grade 5 Titanium.
The SR- 71 Blackbird, the world's fastest supersonic plane during the Cold War, 85% of the plane's body is built using titanium.
About Glimpse
Glimpse is a series of weekly posts which we will use to take you into our minds on what inspires our work from the ground-breaking technologies that will change the world, ideas that challenge conventional thinking and aesthetic design that we love. We hope that this slight Glimpse into our minds and into the future would inspire you to rebel against the status quo, push you to follow your dreams and make a positive impact on the world. The future is coming, we can either watch it happen or be the ones who shape it. Let's be the Future.
About GRAY®
The GRAY® brand, founded and based in Singapore, owes much of its distinctive character to the city that we call home. Inspired by the technologically advanced city-state, GRAY® was born to be the periscope into the future, to inspire those who will shape it. Rebels at heart, our designs have no history as our heritage is the future, our creations are daring experiments in mechanical artistry, engineered with the most advanced technical materials possible. To date we have created the most exclusive and luxurious tech accessories for the iPhone, Samsung & Macbook, cryptocurrency hardware wallets, and a range of daily accessories such as writing instruments and card wallets. We have been featured prominently on Business Insider, The Verge, Bitcoin.com, Hypebeast, Highsnobiety, Unbox Therapy and many more publications.
