​Application Scenarios, Advantages and Disadvantages of TC4 Screws

TC4 screws are particularly suitable for applications in aerospace, aircraft and missiles. This is also the underlying reason why titanium alloy materials, including titanium plates, titanium rods, titanium tubes and titanium alloy fasteners, can be used in these high - tech industries. However, due to the high price of titanium alloy materials, the application of titanium alloys has always been quite limited. 

The density of titanium alloys is generally around 4.5g/cm³, only 60% of that of steel. The strength of pure titanium is close to that of ordinary steel, and some high - strength titanium alloys exceed the strength of many alloy structural steels. Therefore, the specific strength (strength/density) of titanium alloys is much greater than that of other metallic structural materials, and components and parts with high unit strength, good rigidity and light weight can be manufactured. At present, titanium alloys are used for engine components, frameworks, skins, fasteners and landing gears of aircraft. 

Titanium alloys  exhibit superior corrosion - resistance performance in harsh environments, which is the main reason for their application in the manufacturing of chemical equipment. They have good high - and - low - temperature characteristics, non - magnetizability and relatively low thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficients. On the negative side, it is very difficult to process titanium fasteners. Moreover, during the installation and locking of threaded fasteners, the threads are easily scratched or jammed. There are some examples of titanium alloys being sensitive to stress - corrosion at appropriately high temperatures. However, this situation can be alleviated through some special processes. 

Studies have shown that only a small portion of the polished titanium alloys are suitable for manufacturing threaded fasteners. Ti - 6Al - 4V is a heavy - duty alloy. The minimum tensile strength of this titanium - alloy fastener is 135,000 psi, with high strength and satisfactory toughness. Ti - 6Al - 4Mn has great creep - resistance and is easy to cast. Its strength characteristics are comparable to those of the Ti - 6Al - 4V alloy, but its toughness is slightly worse. The tensile strength of Ti - 1Al - 8V - 5Fe is approximately 200,000 psi. It should be emphasized that it has an outstanding strength - to - mass ratio. The fastening force of fasteners made of this alloy is equivalent to that of steel fasteners with a tensile strength of 350,000 psi of the same mass. Another two titanium alloys - Ti - 6Al - 12Zr and Ti - 6Al - 6V - 2Sn are sometimes also used for the manufacturing of fasteners.