the trouble with Titanium, is there are a whole host of things you cant use it for, and there are other things that high grade steels will outperform titanium in every respect bar mass and that of corrosion resistance when steel is in some forms, for instance high grade alloys of steel are significantly more stable across a wide range of temperatures and exposure to gases which would see titanium significantly weaken and even sometime combust.
for instance titanium is NEVER used in or near oxygen system, as any fatigue crack, fracture or fresh hole exposing an none oxidised surface can combust, enter the atmosphere of a nitrogen rich (grater than earths) world could well see the surface temperature of your titanium skinned spacecraft rise >800C on leading edges etc, at which point chemical reaction will start to take place causing embrittlement and the same is true of other abundant gasses at various temperatures below and above this.
so while titanium has its uses on earth, given the composition of earths atmosphere etc and our technological level, its uses on other planets, or given different atmospheric composition, and levels of heat and or pressure it would perform badly in comparison to alloys of steel.
for instance titanium is NEVER used in or near oxygen system, as any fatigue crack, fracture or fresh hole exposing an none oxidised surface can combust, enter the atmosphere of a nitrogen rich (grater than earths) world could well see the surface temperature of your titanium skinned spacecraft rise >800C on leading edges etc, at which point chemical reaction will start to take place causing embrittlement and the same is true of other abundant gasses at various temperatures below and above this.
so while titanium has its uses on earth, given the composition of earths atmosphere etc and our technological level, its uses on other planets, or given different atmospheric composition, and levels of heat and or pressure it would perform badly in comparison to alloys of steel.
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