What is the difference between Scandium and Titanium?

[firestar]

S&W offers both but what is Scandium? I have checked out both types and I saw a Ti guns that I would buy for the right price but the Scandium guns all looked really bad!

 

[SnWnMe]

Titanium alloyed with Vanadium and Aluminium is actually used to build stuff. They are used in aircraft, high zoot bicycle frames and of course, guns. Ti is about 1/3 the density of steel but just as strong. It is also expensive.

Scandium is a very rare, very expensive metal that is added to aluminium (only in very small quantities) to make a very strong alloy. So when you buy a Scandium gun , you're actually getting an aluminium alloy gun. Since Aluminium is only abt 1/2 the density of steel, an all Al gun would be very light indeed.

I learned all this when I was shopping for a new bicycle last year.

 

[Gewehr98]

And for those who speak American English...

Aluminium, roughly translated, means Aluminum.


There isn't a whole bunch of Scandium in S&W's Scandium-framed guns, just enough to impart the desirable properties to the mostly aluminum alloy frame.

The newer Scandium guns still use Titanium for their cylinders, it hasn't been replaced, just the frame alloy composition.

 

[Mark IV Series 80]

Density of materials

Aluminum alloy - .098 lb. per cubic inch

Titanium alloy - .162 lb. per cubic inch

Alloy Steel - .284 lb. per cubic inch

Stainless Steel - .289 lb. per cubic inch

Nickel - .321 lb. per cubic inch

Zinc - .218 lb. per cubic inch

Lead - .410 lb. per cubic inch

 

[9mmepiphany]

Sc and Ti are neighbore on the periodic chart. Sc is much more rare and hense more expensive, but a small amount, when alloyed with Al, imparts it's strenght properties to the new alloy.

so, more strenght while maintaining the same weight as the Ti gun

 

[Wildalaska]

Whats the difference?

About $100

WildcomedykingAlaska

 

[MoNsTeR]

One proton, one electron, and an average of about 3 neutrons
http://www.webelements.com/

 

[22luvr]

A couple of trivial thoughts......

I've read that what scandium does when combined with aluminum is to give it more tensile strength and more "memory." The molecular structure of scandium/aluminum retains it's shape better and is not as brittle as plain aluminum. Smith and Wesson engineers have stated that any high-powered handgun will microscopically expand upon firing and instantly remember to return to it's manufactured shape. The scandium .357 revolver sorta does a "rhumba" when fired and the scandium alloy inhibits too much flex.

(S&W took high-speed time lapse images of the .357 scandium revolver distorting upon firing and I guess it really looks wierd

Hey, I own one of these contraptions and it is kinda spooky to think that my 12 oz scandium snubby frame distorting in my hands upon firing and immediately remembering to return to its original size!

 

[M67]

And for those who speak American English...
Aluminium, roughly translated, means Aluminum

OK, I know you 'murricans insist on misspelling aluminium, and that's fine with me. Free world and all that. But why can't you at least be consistent and spell titanum the same way?

 

[mete]

22luvr, first metals don't have molecules they have crystals. Second the memory is just a matter of flexing like a spring. Scandium is used to strengthen, refine grain and improve welding properties of aluminum. Aluminum is about 1/3 the weight and titanium about 1/2 of steel.

 

[braindead0]

first metals don't have molecules they have crystals

Uh, I think you'll find the crystals are made up of molecules (of for the British, moleculius ;-)

 

[MoNsTeR]

Odd how these threads always devolve into Chemistry & Metallurgy 101

Metals do not, in fact, have molecules. A molecule is a covalently-bonded group of atoms, and metals do not covalently bond to each other. Metal atoms form a metallic lattice, which is a kind of crystal.

 

[22luvr]

UH, I stand corrected...........

Them thar little thingies ya kint see wit da nekked eye dat hold the thang together. Other than that, does my post make any sense to the chemically challenged of the forum??

Thanks for the one-minute lesson in chem.

Metallurgy: Urge that metal to stay together!

Chemisty: Chem is a mystery to me!

There.....got it.

 

[Wil Terry]

thanks for all yore imput here guys. I always wanted to be a

metalurgicologist and now I are one what with scanalainium, tritanium etc etc...couple a more lessons like this and EM EYE TEA here I come!!!

 

[Brad Johnson]

I'm looking forward to the new Duranium guns that use the new dilithium crystal cartridges. The pro is that you don't have to clean them, the con is all those stupid Level One diagnostics you have to run all the time.



Brad

 

[Master Blaster]

Dilithium, Problem is that when the bullet jumps to warp 3 its tough to follow rule four, know your backstop and whats beyond.