Titanium Grade Selection Guide

Grade selection is a sequence of four filters, in order: will it survive the medium? does it hold the load? can it be made the way your plant makes it? and only then — what does it cost? Run the filters in that order and 90 % of choices fall out automatically.

The Four-Filter Method

Filter 1 — Service environmentMedium, concentration, temperature, flow, impurities. Chlorides decide titanium's yes/no; hot chloride pushes Gr2→Gr12; reducing acids push Gr2→Gr7.

Filter 2 — Mechanical dutyStress, section size, fatigue, temperature ceiling. CP grades carry light duty; Gr9 medium; Gr5 structural; Gr23 where toughness governs.

Filter 3 — Fabrication routeWelding, forming, machining reality. Gr1 draws, Gr5 machines, Gr9 welds beautifully; CP grades all weld with practice.

Filter 4 — Cost logicAlloy cost, scrap, tool time, and the part-level outcome — thicker cheap metal is not automatically cheaper than machined Gr5.

Decision Table (published-practice view)

Grade → First-Choice Thinking
Grade	Corrosion	Strength	Fabrication	Typical first pick for
Gr1	CP family	240 MPa	best forming	deep-drawn vessels
Gr2	default industrial	345 MPa	easy all round	seawater, chemical, exchangers
Gr4	CP family	550 MPa	moderate	wear + corrosion, mill parts
Gr5	good	895 MPa	machines well	structural, machined parts
Gr7	reducing acids	345 MPa	like Gr2	acid service upgrades
Gr9	good	620 MPa	great weldability	frames, tubing
Gr12	hot chloride	483 MPa	like Gr2	brine heaters
Gr23	good	860 MPa + toughness	like Gr5	thin sections, low temp

Where Buyers Over-Specify

Gr5 where Gr2 corrosion duty + section thickness already suffices — paying alloy price for strength nobody uses. Gr2 where ambient-air hardware could be steel. And Gr7 premium where the actual plant chemistry never leaves oxidising territory. Bring your conditions; we sanity-check grade and quantity together.

Common Mistake: Dry Chlorine

Titanium + dry chlorine = fire risk, not corrosion resistance. This single exclusion invalidates the "titanium handles chlorine" shorthand — wet/chloride-containing service is the safe frame.

Free Specification Template

Product & form: ___ · Grade: ___ · Standard + revision: ___ · Dimensions (t×w×l / OD×wall×L) · Condition M/R/Y: ___ · Tolerance call-outs: ___ · Documents: MTC / NDT / PSI · Qty & delivery pattern · Destination port: ___

Paste it into an email or WhatsApp — every line you fill removes one day of back-and-forth.

Every Grade Page

Gr1 Gr2 Gr4 Gr5 Gr7 Gr9 Gr12 Gr23

FAQ

Is there a titanium grade chart I can print?

The decision table above is the printable one; grade pages add the property tables.

Titanium vs stainless — when is it worth switching?

Chlorides above ~200 ppm in hot service, weight-critical parts, or pitting you keep replacing. Cost-per-life-year decides, not per-kg.

Can you just tell me which grade to buy?

Send medium + temperature + drawing and we'll propose within the published-standard framework — with the caveat that your engineering owns the design decision.