What does titalium stand for?

[pillar]

I bought some padlocks for practice, mainly Abus and Burg Wächter.

On one Abus there is Abus Titalium, 80TI/40 stamped on.
What does Titalium stand for?
The body is made of aluminium, is there titanium alloy somewhere?

[GWiens2001]

Abus realized that people would be unlikely to pay much for an aluminum bodied lock, so they talked to their marketing department. What should we call this aluminum body padlock so people will buy it? Marketing came up with a list of imaginary names. Then they did polls on which one sounded best. The final winner - Titalium.

That is the same way most companies determine what names would result in the highest profit.

Gordon

[LocksportSouth]

Heh, I remember reading about this somewhere. I have to say it works, as I just mis-read it as Abus "Titanium" for a long time. Or just assumed that it must be made out of Titanium, due to the name, until I read about this.

[DangerDane]

Its not just aluminium since then they would be in violation of our marketings laws where I am from. But they claim Titalium is a alloy made from Titanium and Aluminium, but whether this is even possible or not I am unsure. But if its purely aluminium then they have a storm coming their way at some point...

[MBI]

I believe typical TiAl (titanium/aluminum) alloys are referred to as Titanium Aluminide. They are mostly titanium with a small amount of aluminum, as in single digit percentages, sometimes with other metals also alloyed in the mixture in small percentages.

If they wanted to come up with an alloy with a name they could trademark, that was mostly aluminum to keep the cost low, they would only have to add a miniscule amount of titanium to be able to technically call it an alloy and hint to it's titanium-like nature. It might not even be enough titanium to make a measurable difference, just enough to say it's in there, but I don't know.

Scandium is sometimes alloyed with aluminum in the aerospace and the firearms industry because it can add immense strength to the alloy. It's a very expensive metal, but you only need a tiny amount of scandium to significantly improve the alloy strength, just a fraction of a percent of the total volume.

I'm no metallurgical expert so I'm just speculating as to what's in Titalium, and I don't know how much titanium you'd need to alloy with aluminum in order to achieve a measurable increase in alloy strength.

[GWiens2001]

Scandium is sometimes alloyed with aluminum in the aerospace and the firearms industry

So an alloy with scandium would be a scandal? And to make an alloy with scandium would be to scandalize the metal?

Gordon

[kwoswalt99-]

But they claim Titalium is a alloy made from Titanium and Aluminium, but whether this is even possible or not I am unsure.

As far as I can tell, they only claim it to be a special aluminum alloy, no mention of titanium.

[DangerDane]

Thats whats claimed here. But no mention of how much is in the actual product of both metals.

[QuantumEntangled]

Ti6Al4V is a very tough and common titanium alloy used in everything from aircraft to folding knife handles. Contains titanium with aluminum and vanadium (for hardness I believe). Perhaps "Titalium" is that company's name for Ti6Al4V? Or maybe a similar one. There are plenty of titanium/aluminum alloys but that's a very ubiquitous one.

[Jacob Morgan]

Titanium (and boron) is commonly added to aluminum to improve grain structure during casting (of sheet and ingots at least). Common aluminum alloys have a four digit number that is listed with the Aluminum Association. For example, 7005 is a high zinc content aluminum alloy with a nominal 0.04 % titanium.

For an aluminum alloy to have a name it would be proprietary. Could try doing a patent search.
And of course anyone can make up a name and use it for marketing purposes if they want.

[sheerluck]

...and nothing prevents trademarking a marketing brand.

[Jacob Morgan]

Another possibility would not be an aluminum alloy but an aluminum lock coated with titanium of some nature. Some machine tooling (taps, drills, etc.) are titanium-nitride coated to prevent wear. I think the process is called vapor deposition, but I know almost nothing about how that is done. It takes specialized equipment, could be subbed out to job shops.

Slightly off topic, probably some steel pad lock shackles are coated in that manner to increase resistance to saw blades.

[jimu57]

Titalium is a trademarked alloy created by ABUS. Combines aluminum and titanium into a material that is strong, lightweight, and weather resistant. Being a trademark and most likely not registered under a patent, you will not find out the secret blend of herbs and spices. I think even WD40 is not patented to protect the ingredient mix from being known.

[billdeserthills]

I thought it was much like boron and stood for We just gave our ceo a raise/bonus!

[kwoswalt99-]

Slightly off topic, probably some steel pad lock shackles are coated in that manner to increase resistance to saw blades.

Nope, never heard of a manufacturer using plating for that purpose; even if they were TiN or something similar coated, the effect on saws would be trivial I think.

Titalium is a trademarked alloy created by ABUS. Combines aluminum and titanium into a material that is strong, lightweight, and weather resistant. Being a trademark and most likely not registered under a patent, you will not find out the secret blend of herbs and spices. I think even WD40 is not patented to protect the ingredient mix from being known.

It never says anywhere that it combines titanium and aluminum. Their "special aluminum alloy" might contain small amounts of titanium, but I don't think it really makes a difference. And as for WD-40, it doesn't matter whether it's patented or not, because I can make a much better substitute myself!
I do believe Bill has a point, as I think Abus' intention with the Titalium was to find a cheaper substitute to the brass body padlocks, and increase their margin.
All of this aside, I'm not ripping on Abus, and I would be comfortable using a Titalium on my bike. I actually have an aluminum bodied lock on there now, but it's not an Abus.