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Re: [eliclimbs] Why No Titanium Gear?:
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maldaly
Feb 26, 2007, 2:29 AM
Views: 15617
Registered: Oct 31, 2002
Posts: 1208
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My favorite saying about Ti is that it's heavier than aluminum and weaker than steel. While it has many great characteristics in regards to strength to weight ratios and resistance to fatigue failure, these are characteristics that aren't needed for climbing gear in the degree they're offered in Ti.
We've chosen aluminum for most applications because it's readily available, not too expensive, easy to manufacture, lightweight and strong enough. It's the ideal material for most climbing applications.
There was an outfit around about 10 years ago called Tirilla, a mashup of titanium and gorilla. They made a bunch of Ti carabiners and brought them to the trade show (along with dancers and Miss Texas) thinking they were going to wow the climbing industry. Their lightest carabiners was over 100 gm and were rated to over 30kN. I don't think they sold any of them.
BTW, the stuff that Ushba makes is great but would be lighter, less expensive and probably strong enough if it were made from aluminum. On the other hand, their Ti glue-in bolt is (or should be) the standard bolt for maritime installations because of its resistance to any kind of corrosion.
Hope that answers your questions.
Mal
(This post was edited by maldaly on Feb 26, 2007, 2:33 AM)
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Post edited by maldaly
() on Feb 26, 2007, 2:33 AM
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