New Trends and Features of Titanium as an Architectural Material

摘要

Much attention has been devoted to titanium as a new architectural material. This is because that titanium has its advantages of combining light weight with high strength and excellent corrosion resistance especially in chloride environments. This paper reviews the various characteristics such as corrosion and mechanical properties of titanium as an architectural material. Surface treatment technologies such as vacuum annealing process, continuous annealing pickling process, anodic oxidation process for coloring, etc, and their application to architectural field are also described. Furthermore, the market trends and use experiences of titanium in the building and construction field are surveyed. More than 20 years have passed since titanium was first used and about 150 to 200 tons per year are recently used as an architectural material in Japan.