Negative perceptions have impeded the take-up of titanium offshore, but the mood may be changing, according to Britain's Marine Technology Directorate.
Hitherto, titanium's apparent high cost and its piecemeal application offshore have restricted it chiefly to topsides heat exchangers. Four factors, however, have rekindled the heat exchangers's interest in titanium and titanium alloys:
1.exploration in very deep waters
2.high pressure, high temperature wells
3.the fall and subsequent stabilization of prices for titanium
4.long-term souring of wells.
