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Vanadium contributes to the reliability, machinability and economic availability demanded in materials for Automobiles and Trucks.

Automobiles and Trucks

The automobile industry is very demanding in its selection of materials. These must be strong, reliable, machineable, resist fatigue and give the highest strength-to-weight ratio to minimise fuel consumption and be available at minimum cost. It is the ability of vanadium steels, vanadium-titanium alloys and rubber produced by vanadium catalysts to meet these and other requirements that have led to their selection for critical components in may automobiles and trucks.

Titanium-vanadium Alloy connecting rods

In order to decrease fuel consumption, automobile engineers endeavour to design components with minimum material and to use low density materials. Connecting rods in some automobiles are made with a titanium alloy containing 5% vanadium. This alloy has high strength, low density and a machinability enabling it to meet the severe conditions of the high-speed machining operations essential in the automobile industry.

Vanadium "as-forged" steel crankshafts

Vanadium forged steels are widely used for crankshafts, connecting rods and steering knuckles in many automobiles and trucks. As forged they have the high strength required in these components and do not require the expensive heat treatment necessary with other steels.

The bearing surfaces of crankshafts are hardened to give the necessary wear resistance and by choosing suitable compositions the vanadium steels can be hardened by nitriding or induction hardening.

Cold-formed vanadium steel chassis sections

Vanadium low-sulphur, high strength steels in the form of cold formed sections are used in the chassis of heavy trucks and trailers to keep dead weight to a minimum and payload to a maximum

Vanadium steel springs

When vanadium is added to silicon spring steels the sag-resistance is increased and it is possible to reduce the size of springs. This makes a significant contribution to weight reduction and fuel economy.

Synthetic EPDM* rubber for hoses and seals

The hoses, belts, gaskets and seals of automobile engines which have to maintain their properties at engine temperature are made from synthetic rubber. This is made by processes involving catalytic reactions using vanadium chloride and vanadium oxychloride.

This type of rubber is also extensively used for mouldings around the doors of automobiles and trucks.

Aerospace

Vanadium guarantees the low density, high strength and ability to maintain strength at high operating temperatures essential for materials used in aerospace.

Vanadium is universally used in steels and titanium alloys for aero-engine gas turbines and in titanium alloys used for airframes.

Traditional titanium alloys for compressors and airframes

A titanium alloy containing 4% vanadium and 6% aluminium has been used very extensively for blades, discs and casings of the compressors in many design of the aero-engine gas turbine. The heat treatment made possible by the vanadium and aluminium enables high strength alloys to be produced which maintain a high strength up to temperatures of the order of 545°C.

The High Strength of the alloy has also enabled it to be used for highly stressed parts of airframes, undercarriages and the doors for the undercarriage of Concorde.

Vanadium Steels for turbine discs, shafts and bearings

High strength and maintenance of strength at high temperatures for prolonged periods are essential in materials selected for all sections of gas turbines used in aircraft. Vanadium is added to steels to give high strength and creep resistance at temperatures above 550ºC.

The full strengthening effects of vanadium can best be achieved by the use of Consumable Electrode Remelting Process, Vacuum Arc Remelting (VAR) and Electro Slag Remelting (ESR). These processes both improve the cleanness of the steel and reduce segregation; high cleanness and low segregation being essential requirements for steels used in aero-engine gas turbines.

Vanadium is added to chromium-molybdenum steels for turbine shafts and to high chromium corrosion resisting steels for rotor discs.

The bearings for aero-engine gas turbines are frequently made of a steel containing 1% vanadium with 18% tungsten and 4% chromium. For many decades this was the most widely used steel for high-speed machining operations because of the hardness of the primary and secondary vanadium carbides which are stable up to at least 550°C. This hardness also provides the wear resistance required to meet the arduous conditions of bearings carrying rotor shafts rotating at high speeds at temperatures in excess of 500°C.

New Titanium Alloys

Alloys containing 8, 10 and 15% vanadium have even higher strengths.

Alloys containing 8% vanadium have been developed with high strength and high flexibility so that the lighter titanium alloys can now replace steel for springs.

The 10% vanadium alloy in the form of heat treated forgings is used in airframes particularly for the support structures in undercarriages and has been selected for this application in the Boeing 777 which came into service in 1995.

The 15% vanadium alloy is produced as sheet with cold working properties and has a potential for air ducting in aircraft. All these alloys have the opportunity of making important contributions to weight reduction and the increase of fuel efficiency in aircraft of the future.

Rail and Marine Operations

Vanadium provides steels and titanium alloys with the strength dependability, durability and resistance to wear demanded by Rail and Marine Operations.

Vanadium rail steels

The addition of vanadium to rail steels can increase the tensile strength from about 700 N/mm² to over 1,200 N/mm² and thereby increase the wear resistance of the rails.

In Japan, vanadium steel rails are made by a practice in which the wear-resistant surfaces are produced by surface heat treatment at the end of the rolling process.

Fully or surface hardened vanadium steel rails are used wherever severe conditions of service are found. They are extensively used on sharp curves and steep gradients including tracks carrying iron ore which is transported in large wagons having axle loads exceeding 35 tonnes. In Russia where large tonnages of iron ore are transported over long distances, special vanadium steels are used to increase the life of the rails and reduce track maintenance.

Points

Vanadium-copper steel rails are widely used on Belgian Railways for points because of their higher wear resistance.

Railway wagons

Railway wagons used for carrying bulk supplies of coal, iron ore and similar hard products require steel plates for the walls of the wagons which will resist the abrasive action of the hard materials during loading and unloading. The plates are also required to have resistance to corrosion greater than that of ordinary high strength steels. Special steels containing vanadium, chromium and phosphorous have been developed which have these properties without the disadvantages associated with high phosphorous steels and are widely used for railway wagons carrying iron ore and coal in Europe, North America and Russia.

Ship plates

Vanadium steels can be used for ship plates. Increasing competitiveness in the shipbuilding industry has created a demand for steels which can be welded at high speed without the necessity to preheat the steels for avoidance of hydrogen absorption in the weld metal even when the welding is carried out in damp conditions. Accelerated cooling practices in the rolling of plates have been developed to produce high strength steels with low carbon contents free from hydrogen damage. Although other alloys can be used to provide a high strength, vanadium is often preferred as vanadium steels are free from the casting and other problems associated with alternative steels. Vanadium also promotes a microstructure in the heat affected zone of welds associated with higher toughness.

Sheet piling

Vanadium steels supplied in the "as rolled" condition are widely used for sheet piling in docks and along river banks especially where there is a large difference between the levels of high and low tide or where large dockside buildings cause high transverse loads. By using vanadium steels which have a high strength, the thickness weight and cost of the piling can be kept to a minimum. Vanadium also ensures good toughness in the steels, enabling them to resist fracture which could result from accidental impact from vessels in dock in cold weather.

Vanadium steels used for high strength chains

Vanadium steels are frequently used for heavy chains made from welded bar. The vanadium refines the grain size and increases the strength and wear resistance.

Cast iron cylinders for marine diesel engines

Vanadium is added to cast iron used for the liners of diesel engine cylinders. The vanadium forms hard vanadium carbides which resist the abrasive action of the piston materials at operating temperatures which can exceed 450°C.

Vanadium-titanium alloy bathysphere

Vanadium has been used together with aluminium to give the required strength in a titanium alloy used for a special bathysphere for exploration of the ocean at depths of 10,000 metres. The vessel is made as a single forging and heat treated to have a high strength in all directions, an essential property for a bathysphere which has to withstand the pressures of the ocean.