The aerospace industry is the single largest market for titanium products due to its incredible durability and strength-to-weight ratio. And, since titanium has a very high melting temperature, it can be used in applications that are going to be subject to temperatures around 1100° F, such as in jet-engines.

A perfect example of such applications is the Lockheed SR-17 aircraft, code-named Project Blackbird, which was in service from 1964 to 1998. Before the Blackbird, titanium could only be found in small parts in aircrafts where it was absolutely necessary to use due to how scarce the material is. The Blackbird itself, however, was made of 85% titanium and only 15% composite metals.

One of the major advantages to having an aircraft with a titanium hull is that it actually grows stronger over time. This is due to the intense heating caused by aerodynamic friction when the aircraft would nearly reach the speed of Mach 3 (2283 mph). In fact, the friction of the air passing over the aircraft would heat it up so much that entire plane itself would actually expand several inches while in flight. Because of this, parts of the aircraft, such as the titanium panelling on the floors, would have to be lose fit and would only properly seal after the plane had taken off. This would also cause the craft to leak fuel until it was airborne, so it would need to be refueled in the air before departing for its mission. Just so you can get an idea of how hot the Blackbird would actually get, by the time it landed nobody could come too close to it for quite a while as its canopy would still be above 570° F (300° C).

Blackbird set a long list of world records during its career. On July 28th, 1976, it broke the absolute speed record when it reached 2,193 mph. Later, it broke the world record for the highest cruzing altitude of 85,068 ft. At Mach 2.68, the Blackbird could fly from New York to London in less than two hours! (By comparison, a Boeing 747 averages six hours and fifteen minutes.) In less than seventy minutes it could fly from coast to coast across the US!

If you'd like to vist this amazing aircraft, you can do so at the Museum of Flight in Seatle, Washington. In addition, if you'd like to actually wear a piece of the metal that makes the existance of such crafts as the Blackbird possible, take a look this titanium ring, and others like it that you can find following this link.