In recent years, with the development of the automobile industry, the production and ownership of automobiles are increasing day by day. In 2009, my country's auto industry developed by leaps and bounds, with over 13 million cars produced and sold, surpassing the United States and Japan to become a big country in terms of car production and sales. While cars bring convenience to people's travel, they also cause three major problems of fuel consumption and environmental protection. Focusing on sustainable development considerations, it is particularly urgent to reduce fuel consumption and emission pollution. According to statistics from authoritative departments, about 60% of the fuel used by automobiles is consumed by the weight of the automobile. For every 10% of the weight of the car, the exhaust gas emission can be reduced by 10%, and the fuel consumption can be reduced by 7%. It can be seen that weight reduction and lightweight of automobiles are effective measures to achieve the above goals.
There are two main ways to realize the lightweight of automobiles: one is to optimize the automobile frame structure; the other is to use lightweight materials in automobile manufacturing. At present, the light alloys used in automobiles mainly include aluminum, magnesium,
titanium alloys and other metals.
The use of titanium in automobiles is mainly divided into two categories. One is to reduce the mass of reciprocating parts of internal combustion engines (for reciprocating internal combustion engine parts, even a few grams of mass reduction is important); the second is Used to reduce the overall mass of the car. According to the design and material properties, titanium is mainly distributed in engine components and chassis components in new generation vehicles. In the engine system, titanium can be used to make parts such as valves, valve springs, valve spring bearing seats and connecting rods; in the chassis parts, it is mainly springs, exhaust systems, axle shafts and fasteners.
According to the information, in addition to the key points mentioned above, there are rocker arms, suspension springs, piston pins, turbocharger rotors, fasteners, lug nuts, car brackets, door protrusions, and brake calipers for engine components. Pistons, pins, clutch discs, pressure plates, shift buttons, etc.
Ways to reduce the cost of titanium alloys. Although titanium and titanium alloys entered the field of automobile manufacturing as early as the 1950s, their development was relatively slow. The main reason was the price factor. A lot of work has been done to meet the needs of the automotive industry.
Titanium metal has a high melting point, very active chemical properties, and has a strong chemical affinity with elements such as O, H, N, and C, which makes it difficult to extract pure titanium. The Kroll magnesium reduction method commonly used in industry produces sponge titanium. The Kroll magnesium reduction method to produce titanium sponge has complex processes, high energy consumption, long cycle, and cannot be continuously produced. At the same time, a large amount of metal magnesium is used as a reducing agent, and the production cost is relatively high.
Another reason for the high price of titanium alloys is the high price of alloying elements. With the advancement of titanium smelting technology, it is an effective way to reduce the cost of raw materials to add the leftovers, scraps and other residues generated during the production and processing of titanium as furnace charges after a series of treatments to realize cycle production. Practice has shown that for every 1% of residual titanium used, the production cost of titanium ingots can be reduced by 0.8%. If electron beam cooling furnaces and plasma beam cooling furnaces are used for smelting, not only the metallurgical quality of titanium ingots can be improved, but also a large amount of recycled furnace materials can be used to effectively reduce the cost of casting ingots.
