Titanium alloys, their characteristics. iPhone.

But what's the point of an iPhone? Starting with the elite models of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max line, developers began to add titanium to the body material. But instead of the announced all-titanium body, it received only an outer frame made of titanium alloy. Titanium has replaced stainless medical steel in the premium version of the smartphone.

According to the developers, this made it possible to make these versions of the device the lightest without losing the quality and strength of the products. Let's figure out whether titanium is necessary in the iPhone and the use of titanium steel or other alloys in smartphone cases.

Titanium belongs to high strength materials

It is a silver-white metal with low density, high melting point, strength and corrosion resistance.

Thanks to such characteristics, it has found wide application in aircraft and rocket engineering. Its wide use is due to its prevalence on earth: in terms of reserves, it is inferior only to aluminum, iron and magnesium. It is almost never found in nature in its free form, only in the form of oxides and other compounds. The most common are ilmenite, titanite, rutile.

Ukraine has the largest reserves of titanium ores among European countries.

It was first obtained by American scientists more than 100 years ago, but industrial production and use began only in the 40s of the last century due to the complexity of the technology for obtaining pure metal. The metal is chemically active and interacts with atmospheric gases to form brittle and unusable compounds.

The key production technology is chlorination of ore concentrates, the product of this reaction is pure titanium chloride TiCl4. This compound is placed in reducing devices, where spongy titanium is obtained in an environment of inert gases.

At the next stage, the titanium sponge is cleaned by hydrometallurgical processing or by vacuum separation.

Sponge titanium is an intermediate link in the production of titanium or titanium alloys. In this form, it arrives at non-ferrous metallurgy enterprises or machine-building plants, where it is remelted in vacuum-arc furnaces. The final products are made by casting or by methods of plastic deformation or sent to the production of titanium-containing ferroalloys for alloying steel.

The technology of obtaining titanium is quite complex - therefore, it has a high cost. Therefore, its use is justified only in those industries where high corrosion resistance, the ability to work in a wide temperature range, and high specific strength are required. It is in demand in the space industry, aviation, chemical, medical and energy industries, automotive or special engineering. But apparently, the use of titanium in the production of telephones is not very justified.

Alloys are used much more widely compared to pure titanium. They are divided into three groups:

• alpha alloys are alloys of pure titanium with aluminum, they are quite brittle after heat treatment;
• beta alloys - do not undergo phase transformations when heated, have high plasticity and the lowest strength;
• alpha-beta alloys - they are universal, undergo plastic deformation by forging, stamping, are stronger than single-phase alloys, do not become brittle during heat treatment.

Grade 5 titanium, which is used in the current version of the iPhone Pro, is an alpha-beta alloy manufactured in accordance with the American standard ASTM-B348/B348M, the closest analogue in the CIS is the VT6 alloy, which is manufactured in accordance with the requirements of GOST 19807.

Where applicable

The key is the creation of aircraft bodies, bodies and transmission parts of sports cars, the manufacture of cylinders of pressure vessels, implants and prostheses, in the energy sector it is used for the manufacture of rigid elements of armor protection, silencers for firearms and elements of military equipment. Sports industry - production of frames, bicycles, other components for equipment. Now also Apple iPhone 15,16.

And what about Apple

1. Premium material ever used in iPhone cases for "expensive-a-lot" lovers.
2. It is much easier. Indeed, the iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs 221 g against the Pro Max 14 version - 240 g. But lightness can be achieved with aluminum, which is much lighter than titanium. And it can lighten the case by a much larger percentage.
3. Beauty. It's a matter of taste, steel or aluminum also look attractive. In addition, it is not known how it will look when carried in a pocket with keys in a couple of months.
4. Thin edges, strength and durability. This alloy is used in rovers, so it is difficult to understand whether such strength is needed in smartphones. Well, except maybe the conversation will take place somewhere on Mars).
5. Thermal conductivity. It is worth noting that, apparently, because of this, the developers made only the frame from titanium, and everything else - from aluminum. The latter better dissipates heat from the processor and other components that heat up.

More details about the titanium alloy in the iPhone 16

According to the company, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max use a class 5 titanium alloy case, which will ensure the strength and lightness of the device. This alloy, consisting of titanium, aluminum and vanadium, has a high strength-to-weight ratio.

Grade 5 titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) is a popular choice for the aerospace, medical, and sports equipment industries due to its strength, lightness, and corrosion resistance.

As you can see, the previous experience with the 15 series model was successful. Therefore, the developers have not yet abandoned the titanium alloy frame. We'll see what happens next.