Why Is Potassium Titanate Used For Automotive Components?

Why Is Potassium Titanate Used For Automotive Components?

Potassium titanate, which is a titanic acid compound, is used to improve the strength and durability of a range of components used within the automotive industry. 

It has a range of qualities that makes it an ideal substance to use when manufacturing parts for vehicles, including its thermal insulation properties, its ability to dampen noise and its ability to make parts able to withstand greater wear at high temperatures. 

For example, potassium titanate is used on brake pads because of its outstanding ability to reinforce a material to which it is applied, as well as its low thermal conductivity and high melting point. What’s more, it has low heat storage, which is important in vehicle components.

Potassium titanate was originally used on brake pads in the 1970s as an alternative to asbestos, which needed to be phased out due to its carcinogenic properties. 

Since then, research has continued into how to further enhance potassium titanate on brake pads, including by analysing what size and shape of particles work best in different scenarios. 

In addition to brake pads, potassium titanate is also applied to various plastic and metal composites within the automotive industry to strengthen different parts of our cars and vans. 

Because it improves the heat resistance of the composites that it is added to, potassium titanate has been important for enabling automotive manufacturers to swap heavy metal parts for lighter plastic ones in some places, such as on bearings and on interior panels. 

Potassium titanate is also used as a coating on some exhaust systems, where it helps prevent corrosion of the metal and provides a level of thermal shielding. With so many uses, potassium titanate suppliers are in demand within the automotive industry. 

Given that research is ongoing into where else the compound can be used, including whether it can be combined with other elements such as magnesium, it seems that potassium titanate use is set to remain stable or even increase in the coming years.