Mysterious titanium plate

Mecha

Mecha

Titanium Bladesmith
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
9,887
An ex-crackhead swung by the shop today told me he had a thick titanium alloy plate for sale. He found it scavenging around an old railyard, lying under a rusty pile of steel debris. The scrapyard was only going to give him .14 cents a pound for it (a complete ripoff), so he came to me instead.

Lucky!

This plate is some of the strongest ti alloy I've seen yet. It's 1 1/4" thick, and was subjected to a force so powerful that is slightly deformed and even torn, which is simply mind-boggling. Wrecking ball level forces.

It's been etched with "Ti 4-2-5" which I will take an educated guess as 4% aluminum, 2% vanadium, and 5% iron. That would be HEAVY armor plate, DoD-level stuff. It has a machined surface.

I think it was from a tank. Does anyone know anything about the possible origins of this piece of plate? What do you suppose such a hunk of expensive and rare ti alloy was doing in a ghost railyard?

This will eventually be sliced up and turned into knives ...or...

Axe heads, anyone? :D:D:D

RmEFJMz.jpg
 
Awesome! I have no idea where it is from, but do not believe there are tanks using Ti for armour plate. It could be some component other than armour though. Whatever it is, it's awesome. You scored, the crackhead scored, everyone is happy.

Maybe it was originally an armoured doormat? I would say maybe it is a component of some train considering the location it was found. That is if you can trust that crackhead's story. He probably stole it from his mom.

Can't wait to see what becomes of this. You should name the resulting blade to come out of this "The Cracked out Cutter" or some such heinous name.
 
Lapedog said:
Awesome! I have no idea where it is from, but do not believe there are tanks using Ti for armour plate. It could be some component other than armour though. Whatever it is, it's awesome. You scored, the crackhead scored, everyone is happy.

Maybe it was originally an armoured doormat? I would say maybe it is a component of some train considering the location it was found. That is if you can trust that crackhead's story. He probably stole it from his mom.
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He's actually an ex-crackhead who has gotten himself together. What he was doing in the railyard, I don't know. He surmised that it was in a load of scrap that went through the railyard in the past and ended up in a debris pile, abandoned and forgotten.

I thought I'd read somewhere that thick ti plate was now being used on tanks in specific locations only, that were vulnerable to heavy weapons, but I could totally be wrong about that.
 
Forged?
 
WValtakis said:
I was just thinking only moments ago that a Ti halberd or polearm of some sort would be quite interesting (in case of aliens;) )

~Chip
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Someone beat you to it. I have a fellow on the horn who wants a ti halberd for competitive HEMA type stuff. It's a tall order to fill.
 
No one ever makes a Nagamaki. I think the billet is too short for that though.
 
Yup gonebad395 gonebad395 and Lapedog Lapedog , that article has been long saved in my stash of info that was used during my initial research stages of developing ti alloy swords! :D

The A-10 Thunderbolt's bathtub uses ti alloy armor that is as thick as the mysterious ti alloy plate, but there is no way this thing is from an A-10, as far as I can reckon. Nobody is scrapping the A-10, and they better not even try. :mad:
 
Mecha said:
Yup gonebad395 gonebad395 and Lapedog Lapedog , that article has been long saved in my stash of info that was used during my initial research stages of developing ti alloy swords! :D

The A-10 Thunderbolt's bathtub uses ti alloy armor that is as thick as the mysterious ti alloy plate, but there is no way this thing is from an A-10, as far as I can reckon. Nobody is scrapping the A-10, and they better not even try. :mad:
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No but they might scrap a damaged Ti bathtub that is inside an a10.

There must be somenway to replace it if it gets damaged.
 
I was on a tank crew for 8 years. I can't think of any place that piece would have been. Unless there were some major changes since I was in. Most of the tank armor is DU plates.
 
Markets for ATI 425 Alloy include aerospace, defense, industrial, medical and recreation. The corrosion resistance of the ATI 425 Alloy to saltwater environments also makes it a candidate for marine-related applications.[1]

Specifically, the ATI 425 Alloy is designed for:[3]

  • Wing sheets
  • Defense rotor aircraft
  • Ground vehicles
  • Soldier support and protection
  • Weapons systems
  • Naval systems
  • Boiler/pressure vessel applications
  • Additional naval applications, including shiphold structural materials; armor; doors, hatches and bulkheads; and piping
The ATI 425 Alloy was used on the Phoenix Mars Lander, which was launched on August 4, 2007.
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