Question: can you make a sword out of pure titanium? Would the sword then become a stronger weapon, or a weaker one? In the film Blade, Wesley Snipes carried a sword that was indeed made of pure titanium. This movie started the question among scientific viewers as to the benefits, or negative aspects a sword of this nature would carry.

That melting point for titanium is in the higher range for the purest form of this metal. However, another important feature for metal is the reactivity. This is the ability to turn itself into a different compound. The lower the reactivity, the better. One of the problems with titanium is when it is put into contact with either water or oxygen, an oxide will form on the surface. This is a tough film that stops the titanium from reacting with many of the other substances.

Titanium has been classified as being number two in the element block. Simply stated, this means it'll have most of the characteristics of a lot of other metals. This'll affect three major attributes. Those of titanium's strength regarding mass, strength for the volume and hardness strength. This means a sword made of titanium could tolerate very high stress levels on the actual blade. Almost double the amount of stress as steel. The fact that titanium is also known to be light in weight is another attribute.

The strength of the volume is probably going to prevent this from being an excellent sword blade. When it comes to the breaking point, titanium comes in fairly low on the scale. Although lighter, it does't have anywhere near the breaking point of steel. If using a sword while fencing or in an actual sword fight, the blade must have the ability to withstand the attack being fostered upon it. Without this ability, the sword become ineffective. The chances of the blade becoming deformed in some way or actually snapping off are real possibilities. The weakness of the titanium's breaking point will become a factor. On the other side of the scale, a blade that is too hard is likely to chip or take on a brittle quality. This too will also cause eventual breakage of the blade.

The unfortunate fact is that titanium is never going to have the hardness required to form a good sword blade. It'll dull quickly and have an innate weakness in the infrastructure of the titanium. This blade will also be much softer than steel, even if formed into a thicker blade. Although the idea of a titanium blade is highly appealing, it won't work effectively.