Purchasing titanium is different than buying mild steel. You can’t call around looking for the lowest price per kg. The cheapest price is most likely the wrong grade, wrong condition or no documentation at all. With titanium, the documentation is half the cost.
So, what differentiates a real supplier from a merchant who has some titanium sitting on a shelf?
Grades of Titanium
The first thing to consider is that most buyers know they need to purchase “titanium,” but they have no idea which grade. There’s a thin line between commercially pure titanium (grades 1 through 4) and titanium alloys. The pure grade that you will find the most often is Grade 2. Grade 2 titanium is strong and has good corrosion resistance; therefore, it is easy to work with, and you will find it most often in marine kit and chemical plants. Grade 4 is the strongest of the pure grades. When people refer to titanium, they’re most likely referring to 6Al4V (Grade 5), which is an alloy of titanium that is strong and lightweight and has excellent heat resistance. You will find this grade of titanium in aerospace, motorsport, and medical implants. There’s also Grade 6246 for high temperature environments and Grade 9 (3Al-2.5V) for a titanium alloy that is also often found in tubing.
If a supplier is unable to explain the grades in a sentence or two, you should probably avoid them.
The product is the paperwork
This is the part that catches the most people out.. If you’re working in Aerospace, Motorsport, or Medical, you just can’t fit a part and hope everything is going to be fine. Materials need to be traceable back to the mill with the drawing specifications certifiable. That means certification of AMS 4911 for 6Al4V sheet, ASTM B348 for Grade 2 bar, and so on. A good titanium supplier will only buy ingot from mills that have an aerospace approval, will have their own certified quality management system, like AS9100 or AS9120, and will carry out material verification. If a titanium supplier can’t provide traceability, it doesn’t matter how cheap the material is. You can’t use it.
Stock, cutting, and small order problems
Titanium has a long lead time if it has to be sourced new, but good titanium suppliers will have real stock in all bar, sheet, plate, and tube and will save you weeks. Good suppliers also offer on-site cutting services, which solves the problem of having to buy long lengths for just a small cut.
There is also the minimum order quantity problem. Some mills have minimum tonnage orders, which definitely is not helpful if you are doing a prototype or just a repair. A supplier having no minimum order quantity on stock items will be helpful because you only buy what you need.
It can’t be found in the price list. Two suppliers might cite the same grade and price, but can be worlds apart on traceability, lead time, and their actual willingness to communicate when specs change mid-process. The difference, value, and scope with titanium sort of encapsulates everything.
