In terms of weight to strength titanium is stronger. But is it stronger than mild steel? If it is stronger, how much stronger is it?
Yes ,i think so. The two most useful properties of the metal form are corrosion resistance, and the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal.[4] In its unalloyed condition, titanium is as strong as some steels, but 45% lighter.[5] There are two allotropic forms[6] and five naturally occurring isotopes of this element; 46Ti through 50Ti, with 48Ti being the most abundant (73.8%).[7] Titanium's properties are chemically and physically similar to zirconium.
I was researching titanium as it pertained to protective footwear. The only thing mentioned was lighter as the advantage. Nowhere did I find the strength comparison. You might want to research the product you are interested in.
The tensile strength of mild steel is about 70kpsi. Pure titanium is 60-110kpsi, and with 7% manganese it is 130-170kpsi. 1kpsi = one thousand pounds per square inch. So in other words, high grade titanium can be somewhat stronger than mild steel.
Contrary to what we are usually told, Ti weight to strength ratio is better only for lower strength alloys. Steels match or best Ti and Al alloy ratio's for high strengths. Hard to answer this question, due to varying effects of cold work, alloying, and heat treatments. In general, traditional mild steels with little cold work are about equivalent strength to commercially pure Ti. Cleverly selected mild steels with extensive cold work have greater UTS (and really greater SMYS) than commercially pure Ti, and approach strength of the best Ti alloys. Ti starts at about 60ksi UTS for commercially pure, and goes up to about 200ksi for high strength alloys. Mild steel has varying definitions. Plain carbon steels use virtually no alloying materials other than carbon. Low carbon steels starting in the 1008 (0.08% carbon) range can be cold worked to 100ksi UTS, while 1030, the maximum carbon for mild steel per one source, can be cold worked up to about 180ksi. Simple steels can go about 215 ksi UTS at fairly reasonable cost with lesser cold work than I was using because producers can't make stronger steels with higher degrees of cold work. High strength alloys can best 350ksi at impressively high cost. (and they match best titanium alloy strength to weight ratio). They are why wide body aircraft have lots of steel - landing gears, flap mechanisms, etc. Don't know about cold working Ti though. It doesn't seem to be done much, but difficult to find info.
