Simply amazing build. The wonderful world of stupid $$$ and 5/6 axis CNC :excited
Moreso than comparable ductile steel billet yes, but not all titanium is brittle. Pure titanium, or titanium with carbide from poor reduction processing(TiC) is brittle by nature. Mixed with appropriate elements like aluminum and vanadium the alloys becomes very ductile, barring no oxygen or nitrogen embrittlement has occured. Ti is a bitch to process and ensuring you are buying good titanium key to having solid product int he end(like these rods here)
What does affect titanium though is methanol. That can cause stress corrosion in even the high grade alloys. It’s the one thing that the automotive world has to be careful with. Ti rods also technically have a lower service fatigue life vs comparable steel rods. Porsche RSR Ti rods are only supposed to be used for ~500hours then xrayed/stretch checked.
The Beryllium alloy pistons astound me as well. One of the rarest metals on earth, shit is like $700 for 100grams! But those pistons are probably running some stupid tight PTWC, like .0005" or something like that. Those pistons probably don’t swell more than .0002" under load because the metal is so thermally stable.
Love it!!!
we use a lot of Ti here where i work, (the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!) and Ti is a bitch to work with. we dont use Beryllium because the dust from the machining is a carsonogenic (SP). we use a lot of Gun steel for obvious reasons and like french steel. big money shit.