What is "Nitanium" in bicycle frames?
 

My friend was showing off his Specialized Rock Hopper. I noticed that the frame had a decal that said "Richey Nitanium tubing".

What is "Nitanium"? Sounds like "Titanium", but I learned from Ronco records that 'sounds-like' isn't the same as the real deal.

What's up with Nitanium?

Definitely a play on words.

Here is what I found on it:
http://www.psycleonline.com/fall99/metalma.htm

Looks like chrome moly steel with traces of titanium and niobium in it.

That's a bit scientific and boring.

Sounds more like a shortening of 'not titanium' to me. My bike is therefore 100% nitanuim.

Bud,
I am gonna be funny here "nitanium" is defintiley or should be spelled "Not a Titanium" so they made it short "Nitanium" :D :D :D :D :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Somewhat similar to, but cheaper than Unobtanium.

after reading that article, I may have to consider a specialized more closely for my next bike than i thought.

Here is what the site that Martin posted had to say about Nitanium:

"Nitanium is a special hybrid non-heat-treated form of Chromoly steel that contains trace elements of Titanium and Niobium (element number 41 in the periodic table)".

Thus, it is more chromoly steel than Titanium.

And cro-moly is more iron than cromium or molybdenum... or carbon or lime for that matter...

Nitanium is used for orthodontic appliances.
http://www.johnsdental.com/images/uploads/Arndt2.jpg
Bicycling and orthodontics don't mix -- except after a crash. :eek:

That kind of reminds me of that canned lemonade that says something like "contains 5% real fruit juice" on the can. It wouldn't sell as well if they called it what it was (duPontAde?).

Guys,

You are really making my life very pleasant, I am belly aching already:roflmao: :roflmao:

This sounds suspicious. It would seem that this alloy of steel (that's what it is), would be best for high moisture, high acid environments. Why would this be good for a bike?
I'll bet it's only the way-cool sounding name they wanted, not the physical properties of the alloy.

Look guys, this is really funny stuff and all, but let's remember that it doesn't take much of another added substance to make an alloy that is significantly superior for a specific purpose.

Nitanium may be a gimmick, but I'm going to reserve my judgement on this one.

myself as well, the article he posted claimed that it was close in weight to aluminum.

Is Tom Ritchey still an independent, or has he been bought out?

We need real life heroes to give us hope when things are bleak. Lance is a good choice.

In case I have confused people, including myself, this was supposed to have posted on the "Lance article" topic. How it got here, I don't know.

I may need more coffee...

Now back to your regularly scheduled post...

No you don't need more coffee, you need to get out and ride your bike more often:D :D :D :D

This does a disservice to metallurgy identification.
Titanium is (Ti, atomic #22)
Nickel (Ni, atomic #28)
Niobium (Nb, atomic #41 - far heavier than the above metals)
http://www.webelements.com/webelemen...xt/Nb/key.html

Usually Nickel and Titaniums are identified by either their formula or concatination of names. NiTi would be majority Nickel and minority Titanium. Titanium 6-4 or 6Al-4V is 6%Aluminum, 4%Vanadium and balance (90%) titanium.

Therefore, their definition of Nitanium would lead one to believe that this is a Nickel/Titanium alloy.

This is a disservice to consumers, bridging on false advertising.

Sort of like Easton's Scandium tubing?

I would agree based on the information from the nitanium alloy users in other industry. This link supports your analysis of what "most" people would believe nitanium to be -
http://www.aurumgroup.com/english/ce...ivnitanium.stm

Of course, the Ritchey nitanium is proprietary and in all likelihood has not been divulged in readily available documents from patent applications, etc.
They may have copyrighted the name for use in this particular industry. While possibly legal to do so, it certainly lends credence to your hypothesis of possible false advertising. It could very well be an issue in the US to take up with the FTC(Federal Trade Commission).

We could always find out the true makeup of the metal. One alternative is to saw off a piece of frame and have a metalurgical analysis performed. Anyone have a spare frame laying around?:D
The only issue might be that of how the alloy was heat treated, etc.

Martin,

Someone posted this on MTB review "It is certain a type of steel alloy that includes a small amount of Niobium and Titanium in its chemical composition.
Its Tensile strength is very similar to that of cromoly; however, this type of steel claimed to retain 98% of this strength after TIG welding. CroMo, for example, can lose up to 20 to 30% of this strength due to exposure to intense heat. Nitanium is not the first attempt nor the last to market this type of steel tubing. Columbus (the Italian Steel tubing company) did a very similar thing years ago. In other words, IMHO, I would not choose a frame merely based on the fact that it uses the **new** tubings."

Your link states Nickel Titanium (which goes with the term NiTanium), the above states Niobium Titanium or NbTi.

Anyway, I enjoyed the link...
As I was reading, something occurred to me.....
Quick Facts...
* High performance and memory
* Made from special nickel titanium alloy
* Provides maximum spring and memory
* Minimizes fracturing
* Excellent for initial levelling and aligning
* Reacts to natural heat within patient's mouth
* Made from a special nickel titanium alloy that provides maximum spring and memory, while minimizing fracturing.

taking all of this into consideration, they seem to have renamed the material. It was originally called Nitinol50. Please check out http://www.nitinol.com specifically http://www.nitinol.com/4applications.htm
Looks like this is where the dental thinkgs came from.

Nitinol? No wonder they changed it, sounds like a cough syrup...

knifun,
Great link and detective work. That is a rather amazing alloy! After examining your link I believe the dental people sure did rename the alloy to something more "marketable".