Why Titanium?

Looking at the thread in the raffel section on the L0P-SE-Ti and I don`t get it. Is Ti that much more valuable of a metal? Does it wear better? Does it conduct current better? Will they be worth more as a collecter item? Why are people willing to spend twice as much?

Ken

Personally I don't have any interest in Ti flashlights.

Give me some natural HAIII any day of the week.


CFU

I think it is just the uniqueness of the metal. It is lighter than stainless steel, and harder than aluminum. More importantly is is more difficult to machine.

I know I won't be getting one. Not for twice the price, anyway. I can appreciate using different metals from an aesthetic vewpoint. My brass Peaks are nice, to me, even if they're too heavy because of it. I just have to draw a "price line", no matter what the material.

Geoff

Flying Turtle said:

I know I won't be getting one. Not for twice the price, anyway. I can appreciate using different metals from an aesthetic vewpoint. My brass Peaks are nice, to me, even if they're too heavy because of it. I just have to draw a "price line", no matter what the material.

Geoff

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there was a gatlight on ebay that went for $810.00, made from titanium.

Aluminum in its un anodized condition is a 'dirty metal'. Scratches easily and is relatively soft.
Stainless steel is 'steel' and can still rust and corrode. And being steel it is heavy.

Titanium is strong, relatively light weight and its oxide is not dirty like aluminum.

With care it machines to a very nice finish and is totally corrosion free.

However sitting on a shelf is not the place for a Ti light. It needs to be used for its real world benifits to 'shine'.

Titanium is much tougher than aluminum, and much lighter than stainless steel. A titanium light is tough enough to survive heavy use without any trouble and look great doing it and I suspect that is why people like it so much. The downside is that Ti is more expensive to buy and more to machine as well. When you add the extra cost of material and the extra cost of machining, the Ti lights can be quite a bit more expensive.

It's strong and very light weight but IIRC it doesnt shed heat well at all.

Titanium is not a good thermal conductor and it is about 14 to 30 times lower than aluminum (depends on which series). If the design of a particular light does not generate a lot of heat or require a lot of heat dissipation to maintain efficiency, titanium would do just fine. If you replace a HDS ECD with titanium, the light would trigger its thermal protection mode sooner at max level because the heat generated by the emitter is trapped instead of dissipating to the surrounding.


Have you heard of a titanium heat sink?

I see these will be 25% brighter than the standard L0P-se...would the heat would be 25% greater as well?

I like titanium watches, I have several. The primary reason for my purchase was LIGHT WEIGHT.

The alloy of titanium is very important. I bought my first two titanium watches around the same time. One has become very scratched up (SEIKO) and the other is wearing terrific (CITIZEN).

The Seiko titanium is a silverish tone, almost like stainless it is polished in places. It has scratched like mad. I think they gave up some wear resistance with the ability to be polished.

The Citizen is a darker gray, all matte. This has resisted scratches and still looks new.

Back in the summer I bought a Skagen titanium. It's somewhere between the two colors, but with a brushed finish. It has has a few scratches already.

New in my collection is a traser titanium, it is more of a rosey bronze tint of titanium, fully matte. Only had it a month or so, but no scratches yet. Anywhere it has rubbed became slightly shinier than the rest.

All these watches are terrifically light and show no oxidation or tarnish. If I was to buy a flashlight in titanium, it would be for bling factor alone. As mentioned before, it doesn't transfer heat very well and drives the cost way up.

titanium has some important advantages:
- corrosion resistant even in salt water
- tough as hell
- doesn't need a surface treatment that can scratch or wear
Those are important points IMHO, at least for me.

IF one can move around the drawbacks, most importantly the thermal properties, and IF I can pay the price, then I am all ti.

bernie

Badbeams said:

I see these will be 25% brighter than the standard L0P-se...would the heat would be 25% greater as well?

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Heat doesn't damage the LED, temperature does.

To get heat to flow through a material with lower thermal conductivity (like titanium), the temperature difference between this inside and outside of the metal needs to be greater. This means with the same LED output, the inside of the flashlight will get hotter with titanium compared to aluminum, which happens to be a very good conductor of heat.

Now increase the output of the LED, and the additional heat created will drive up the temperature even more.

Yes ... BUT ... the ultimate problem of a light running in steady state is not the transfer of the heat to the ti or al body, but the transfer to the air or human hand. Eventually both ti and al bodies will reach steady state temperatures with the big problem being the heat removal after the bodies ... which is the reason a flashlight is getting warm after all.
bernie

will said:

I think it is just the uniqueness of the metal. It is lighter than stainless steel, and harder than aluminum. More importantly is is more difficult to machine.

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Me thinks you got that reversed. You mean stronger than SS and lighter than Ally.

Kiessling said:

Yes ... BUT ... the ultimate problem of a light running in steady state is not the transfer of the heat to the ti or al body, but the transfer to the air or human hand. Eventually both ti and al bodies will reach steady state temperatures with the big problem being the heat removal after the bodies ... which is the reason a flashlight is getting warm after all.
bernie

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Yes, the greatest restriction to heat transfer is where there is a lack of conduction. This applies to the emitter/driver and to the external body of the flashlight.

The difference in temperature across the inner/outer surfaces of the metal is probably much less significant than the temperature between the driver board and the inner suface of the body (assuming typical lack of good heatsink), and the outer surface of the body to the ambient.

EngrPaul said:

Heat doesn't damage the LED, temperature does.

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Heat= temperature for our common purposes, doesn't it?

IMO, it's pure *fad*.

Originally Posted by will
I think it is just the uniqueness of the metal. It is lighter than stainless steel, and harder than aluminum. More importantly is is more difficult to machine.



Me thinks you got that reversed. You mean stronger than SS and lighter than Ally.

we are both correct.

Thermal conductivity of following materials:

Copper~400 W/mK
Aluminum~230 W/mK
Titanium~22 W/mK

Heat will travel very quickly from the LED to the light engine if things are built properly. Once it hits the titanium body of the light, heat moves at 10% of the rate that it does through aluminum. Titanium LOOKS very nice, it's not the choice of material if you want the most light that you can get out of an LED especially if you're driving the LED pretty hard. The PD's with the x2 is a good solution where your primary (low) level is available and the high level is used sparingly or in emergencies. If you plan on using your light at the high levels most of the time, aluminum is a better choice. Heck, Cu is the best choice but it's heavy and corrodes "dirty"

will said:

Originally Posted by will
I think it is just the uniqueness of the metal. It is lighter than stainless steel, and harder than aluminum. More importantly is is more difficult to machine.



Me thinks you got that reversed. You mean stronger than SS and lighter than Ally.

we are both correct.

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Depends on what type of SS, some types can be hardened to a greater extent than Ti, and still remain tough. The only real problem with Ti is that if you drop it in anything with chlorine (or any halogen for that matter), the ti will corrode. I still think ti is a great metal though, (besides, you can anodize it for cool colours/ patterns, which is tougher than HA)