Group makes sure world knows about titanium

BOULDER — Tucked away in an unassuming office on Folsom Street in Boulder is an association whose corporate members, spread right around the world, pay annual subscriptions ranging from $1,000 to $60,000.

The International Titanium Association (ITA) is dedicated to promoting and protecting the interests of titanium producers and manufacturers, as well as the end users of this high-tech metal.

When it was discovered in the 19th century, titanium was named after the Titans, the elders among Greek gods and original rulers of the universe, according to Greek mythology. The name was apt, reflecting titanium’s major characteristic — it’s great strength and comparatively light weight.

Today a host of other properties, including superior erosion and corrosion resistance (it is immune to attack by salt water and strongly resistant to many gases and chemicals), are helping to make titanium the headline metal of the new millennium.

The military was the first to use titanium back in the 1950s, and 40 years later its

remarkable strength-to-weight ratio continues to make it a primary candidate for jet engines and plane frames.

Titanium also shows up in everything from cars, boats and spacecraft to golf clubs, tennis rackets, bikes and skis, while other commercial uses include architecture, chemical processing and industrial heat exchangers.

As the most bio-compatible of all metals (it is totally resistant to attack by body fluids), titanium also is gaining ground in the world of medical implants, being used for such things as pacemakers, prosthetics and hip and joint replacements.

The International Titanium Association celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. It began as the Titanium Development Association in Dayton, Ohio, and moved to Colorado in 1991. But why Boulder?

It was partly fortuitous, says Amy Fitzgerald, the association’s director of member services. “They had just hired a new executive director to run the association, and he was from Boulder.”

Boulder’s central geographic location played a part, though perhaps more significant was that TIMET, the world’s largest titanium producer, has its headquarters in Denver. ITA’s current president is Lanny Martin, chief executive officer at TIMET.

Fitzgerald forms half the association’s full-time workforce. The other half is Brian Simpson, who was appointed executive director at the end of last year, and two part-time staff. Fitzgerald has been with ITA for four years and jokes that titanium is like a virus that once you catch, you can’t get rid of. “Titanium is such a fascinating material and just look what it’s done for the modern world,” she says.

This year the association has embarked on an endorsement program for titanium products aimed at protecting consumers from misleading labeling while also safeguarding the integrity and good name of the industry.

Under the program, the association will laboratory test product samples and, once satisfied they contain at least 70 percent titanium, manufacturers will be able to use an approved logo and certification statement to that effect.

Andy Dimock, president of The Metal Warehouse, believes his is the only business in Boulder retailing titanium directly to the public. He runs a metal distribution company selling all sorts of raw and lightly fabricated materials, most of it steel but including a number of specialty metals. Dimock estimates he sold about $35,000 worth of titanium last year, the majority of it to customers in the aerospace industry but also to artists for making jewelry and sculptures.

The world’s top three titanium producers are the United States, Russia and Japan, while there are other huge deposits of the world’s fourth most common structural metal in Australia, China, and parts of Europe.

ITA has 128 corporate members, of which about 90 are in the United States. Others come from Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Australia and Canada.

The association offers members a number of worldwide benefits, including seminars (the latest was in England in March), access to technical advice and assistance, a means of effective networking and communication, quarterly newsletters, and support for trade shows.

Nine standing committees, which meet regularly in Boulder and by teleconference, are the “lifeblood” of the association, according to Fitzgerald. Committees cover industry sectors such as aerospace, marine and medical, and issues such as safety.

There’s an annual conference each October featuring technical presentations, exhibitions, workshops and receptions. The event usually attracts between 500 and 700 people, and was held outside the United States for the first time last year.

The venue was Monte Carlo, in Monaco, which Fitzgerald described as a “magical” location. “It also made it easier for international and especially European companies to attend, and in fact we had the most diversified group the conference has ever hosted.”

Fitzgerald says the association will probably consider another European venue in the future, possibly in Italy or Spain, though the 1999 conference is set for the Dallas suburb of Las Colinas.

ITA also publishes numerous booklets and brochures, including an annual statistical review and members guide, has produced a video, and is pioneering an interactive database on its Web site, www.titanium.org.

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