francovendee wrote: ↑9 Feb 2023, 8:09am
I wonder what grade of titanium alloy is used to make these frames.
I seem to remember pure titanium is very soft but alloys can have amazing strength.
Where's our new Brucie?
For bike use it's usually grade 9 (3-25) for the tubes and grade 5 ( or 6-4) for plated bits like dropouts, grade 9 seems to come annealed, non annealed (and partially annealed I think) depending on whether you want to manipulate it from it's tubular form ie. bend it for stays etc. Grade 5 is hard - if you try and bend it it snaps. I've seen both dropouts and tubes fail. I think exhausts are made from grade 2. "Strong" I suppose becomes perhaps less important than resilient.
The big issue is you don't always know what you're getting if buying from some sources, if you want to be sure you buy "mill certified" materials. I know the flash custom builders will always stick with certified materials, you "pays yer price and teks yer choice"
Ultimately you can't tell how good the materials are for many frames, and Ti is entertainingly troublesome, I love it but certainly regard it with massive suspicion.
A proper expert might come along with the tube lowdown. I only know as much as I know from building a few frames with it.