Is titanium more expensive than silver? Is titanium jewelry worth anything?
When you’re making a budget for what kind of jewelry to purchase, it helps to know the pricing so that you can decide what metal is value for money.
Here we are going to answer the question of whether titanium is more expensive than silver and the reason behind it.
What makes titanium expensive?
Before we get to answer the question, let’s explore some aspects of titanium. On the Earth, Titanium is the ninth most abundant element and the seventh most abundant metal. The reason why you pay a lot more for such an abundant metal is because of how difficult it is to extract it from its ore.
It requires extremely high temperatures and vacuum conditions only to make titanium alloys. That is why you’ll find that it is worth more per ounce as compared to iron.
The pricing of titanium puts it in the same categories as precious metals when, in actuality, it is not one. It is not even traded in the market like silver or gold are.
Therefore, we can say the pricing has to do with the difficulty of extraction and not based on how worthy it is. When you’re purchasing titanium, it helps to keep that in mind; you know why you’re paying a lot more for an abundant metal than others on the planet.
A historical fact to know is that titanium got discovered in 1791, but it was until 1910 when Matthew Hunter from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was the one who was able to produce pure titanium.
Even then, it took 20 years for someone else, William Kroll, to be able to come up with an extraction process that allows large scale producing. The method of now referred to as the Kroll process, and it is in use till today.
It’s not only the extraction and the making of titanium alloys that make items made of it expensive. It also has some impressive properties. One of them is that it is as strong as steel, only lighter by about 45 percent. Titanium gets used in aerospace projects and other such advanced areas because of its strength and durability.
It can withstand super high temperatures of 1,668 degrees Celsius and can withstand corrosion from seawater, something a lot of metals are not able to do. Overall, it resists erosion, abrasion, and cavitation and is also biocompatible. That is why you’ll find medical implants made of titanium.
Is titanium more expensive than silver?
NO, Titanium is not expensive than silver. Please see the detailed answers in the below section
Over the past two decades, there has been a steady decrease in the price of titanium in the market. There have been some highs such as in 2006, where the price was at $16,700 per metric ton.
However, overall, in 2018, the cost of titanium was $4,800 per metric ton, a decrease from what it was ten years prior at $10,379 per metric ton when adjusted for inflation.
Otherwise, at the time, it was going for $8,800 per metric ton. In 1998, when adjusted for inflation, titanium was going for $15,044 per metric ton.
Trading silver and other precious metals are different. For that reason, silver is not available in metric tons but kilos instead. However, we’ll do some conversions so that we’re able to answer the question accurately. One metric ton is equal to 1000 kilos.
Therefore, in 2018, the price of titanium per kilo was $4.8. In the same year, the cost of silver was a high of $563.29 per kilo and a low of $449.15 per kilo. That is a stack difference when you look at the pricing per kilo of titanium and silver.
We can thus conclude that titanium is not more expensive than silver. If anything compared to silver, titanium comes nowhere close. To give it a comparison, in 2018, a dry metric ton of iron was going at $76.07. When you convert that into a kilo, it was going for $0.07607.
The other difference between silver and titanium is that you can trade using silver, but in the case of titanium, you have to invest in a company that mines titanium or uses the products of the same. Your shares will then be in the company and not on the metal.
Pros and cons of titanium and silver
Titanium
Pros
- It is abundant in the earth
- It has a lot of uses even in daily aspects such as toothpaste
- It is associated with high-technology industries
Cons
- It is expensive to extract titanium from the ore
Silver
Pros
- It is a precious metal
- You can trade the metal itself in the forex market
- It is a worthwhile investment
Cons
- It is softer than titanium in its pure form and thus can’t be used to make jewelry
Which is better titanium or silver for jewelry?
Both titanium and silver are not best in their pure form. Instead, what gets used for jewelry making is the alloy. When it comes to what works best for jewelry, the winner has to be titanium for various reasons.
The first is that it is corrosion resistant and won’t tarnish quickly. People who do massive manual work benefit from having titanium bring because they don’t have to worry about bends and excessive scratches.
Equally, those engaged in outdoor activities don’t have to worry about what water, whether chlorinated or salty, will do to their jewelry.
The other bonus it has over silver is that it’s hypoallergenic. Some people do react to silver because of the use of nickel and other metals in making the alloy.
Another area where titanium has the upper hand over silver (that’s if you’re not looking to have a precious metal) is the area of weight. Titanium is much lighter than silver or even gold and thus more comfortable to wear everywhere.
Conclusion
The cost of silver varies greatly because it depends on what it is alloyed with.
That is why in the market you’ll find some silver rings that are cheaper than titanium.
However, when it comes to the pure version of silver, it will cost more than titanium.
The price difference won’t be that large given that titanium is already expensive.
Guys, thanks for reading our post! if you want to read more jewelry metals information, just read more here or here.
Tiger is a fashion&jewelry lover. He is also a fashion jewelry manufacturer that help thousands of small business to grow and also do business with some big fashion jewelry brands. He is a truly metal expert and he will share some information you are looking for.