Recent Development of Titanium and Its Alloys in Automotive Exhaust Applications

摘要

There has been a significant growth in the application of titanium and its alloys to automotive exhaust systems over the last decade. CP Ti has been used for dual exhaust systems of Corvette Z06 in recent years. Exhaust pipes and mufflers for high performance motorcycles have been a prime target of titanium, since the visual appearance of titanium as well as performance with titanium attracts users. There has been notable progress in material side as well. Ti-1.5 percentAl and TIMETAL?Exhaust XT (Ti-0.45 percentSi-0.25 percentFe) have been developed to meet more stringent requirement in terms of oxidation resistance at higher temperatures where CP Ti cannot be used. This paper will review high temperature titanium and its alloys for automotive exhaust applications. Metallurgical factors that control oxidation resistance will also be discussed primarily focusing on TIMETAL Exhaust XT.