Some alloying elements raise the alpha-beta transition temperature (ie alpha stabilizers), while others lower the transition temperature (ie beta stabilizers). Aluminum, gallium, germanium, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen are alpha stabilizers. Molybdenum, vanadium, tantalum, niobium, manganese, iron, chromium, cobalt, nickel, copper and silicon are beta stabilizers.
Titanium Alloys are usually classified into three main categories:
* Alpha neutral alloys alloying elements (like lead) and / or alpha stabilisers (such as aluminum or oxygen alone. This is not heat treatable.
* Near-alpha alloys containing less elastic beta stage. In addition to alpha-phase stabilisers, near-alpha alloys are alloyed with 1-2% of the beta phase stabilizers such as molybdenum, silicon or Vanadium.
* Beta Alloys, which generally metastable and include some combination of both alpha and beta stabilisers, and heat that can be treated.
* Beta Alloys, which is metastable and that contains enough beta stabilisers (such as Molybdenum, Vanadium and silicon to allow them to maintain the beta phase when quenched, and which also can be recycled and increase the strength of old solutions.
Generally, alpha-phase titanium is stronger but less elastic and beta-phase titanium is more elastic. Alpha-beta-phase titanium has mechanical properties that exist between the two.
Titanium dioxide dissolved in the metal at high temperatures, and very energetic formations. These two factors mean that all titanium except be careful of the most sacred has a large number of dissolved oxygen, which can be regarded as Ti-O alloy. Oxide precipitates offers some power (as discussed above), but not very responsive to heat and substantially reduce maintenance alloy of violence.
In addition to titanium-based alloys, the term can refer to the "binary" alloys which consist of nearly even mixture, atom-by-atom, of titanium and other elements. Nitinol, shape memory alloy, a mixture of titanium and nickel, while the niobium-titanium alloys used as wires for superconducting magnets.
Many also contain titanium alloys as a small addition, but since the alloys are usually categorized according to the elements that make up the majority of the material, it is usually not considered "titanium alloys" as it is. See sub-chapters on titanium applications.