Titanium is one of the most versatile and valuable metals used in the oil and gas sectors and other industrial applications. The addition of titanium to steel alloys increases the material’s strength, density and corrosion resistance. The use of this alloy in down-hole tubing — the steel alloy lining around a well bore — has become widespread over the past decade.
High-strength titanium alloys used in compressor parts are durable and increase the useful lives of those parts compared with other steel alloys. Titanium is highly resistant to seawater, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide corrosion. It maintains its strength at the very low temperatures (-240 degrees F) required to liquefy natural gas. It is used in heat exchanger tubing in liquefied natural gas plants and in the linings of the pressurized vessels in LNG tankers.