Titanium tank

[Garrobo]

Has anyone looked into the manufacture of scuba tanks for scuba? Or are they already available?

 

[Garrobo]

OOPS. Forgot to say "titanium scuba tanks". Sorry

 

[Jimmer]

Cousteau used some custom Ti tanks if I remember correctly, very high pressure too. The cost to manufacture would be insane, and Ti is very notch sensitive, making it a little sketchy for a pressure vessel. A few dings and scrapes could cause some serious issues.

 

[Garrobo]

Well maybe it could be alloyed with some other type of steel to remove the notchiness. HUH? I'm looking for something lighter than aluminum. Those 40# tanks are getting tough on these old bones.

 

[Crawl79]

Not for Scuba but we use two titanium spheres for the computers on the AUV we work with. Inside the sphere its normal pressure but we take the AUV down to 3000m and only once in 5 years has one flooded and that was due an oring problem. But yes they cost a whole lotta money to manufacture.

 

[H2Andy]

i would guess cost would be prohibitive, even in alloy

 

[The Kraken]

Let's see, where are we going to put all that lead to get underneath the water with tanks that weigh only 6 pounds each ???

the K

 

[Jimmer]

They are all alloys. Structural metals in their purest forms are generally useless. All Ti alloys exhibit varying levels of notch sensitivity, but the end result is they are all problematic. Cost is also VERY high, and Ti is not very workable, meaning difficult to press, difficult to machine. Just ask anyone lucky enough to machine it. I have and it sucks. There could be ways around the notch issue, Cousteau had 3 small Ti cylinders in an enclosed case for protection I assume, but again the cost would be sky high. Interesting thought tho.

 

[Garrobo]

What, like thousands? I had a guy tell me that someone had manufactured them at one time and that they only weighed about 8 pounds. I'd pay a thou if it only weighed that much, maybe more.

 

[H2Andy]

They are all alloys.

what, no 100% titanium tanks???

what a jip ...

for example, if i buy a gold tank, i want 100% gold, not a crummy alloy!

say ... how much do you think a gold tank would cost?

i could be known as .... The Man with the Golden Tank...