The raw material cost for a particular component may be 20 times the cost if made from one material compared to another on a weight to weight basis. However the lifetime costs may be very similar if all of the other factors are also taken into consideration.
The material cost of a mass produced investment casting item may be 80% of the final cost. The material cost of a single complicated machined item may be less than 10% of the final cost. It is not possible to provide cost comparisons between different metals to any level of accuracy. Each metal is varying in price on a day to day basis and different alloys of the same metal can have significantly different costs. A grade 7 titanium alloy costs twice as much as pure titanium (grade 1,2 or 3).
Comparing costs should only be based on final installed costs. eg. for a domestic, industrial piping system a screwed steel system would cost about 40% more than a copper piping system.
Example :
The price of a titanium / titanium alloy products results from a number of factors:
- Alloying grade .some grades e.g with Pd alloying component, can significantly increase the price of the alloy.
- The purity of the grade… the more pure the higher the cost
- The test and inspection requirements;
- The procured quantities. The more ordered the lower the specific cost
- The geometry ..rolling or forging affects prices per volume or weight
- Demand ..e.g High defence demand for aerospace industry can result in higher metal prices
- Local economy.. Metal availability
In year 2000 the price of titanium was about 13 000 to 43 000/tonne..
In 2002 the price of raw titanium was about to 8960/tonne.
In 2005 to-date the price of titanium has varied between 6000 and 9000 /tonne
Ref 2010 ..I have enclosed a chart from the metalprices webpage to illustrate to range of titanium ingot pricing over a 12 month period
Table showing relative metal costs
The table below can only really be used to give broad relative initial material costs. The figures are based on a reference source originating about 2002
| Material | Density | Cost/tonne | Relative | Cost /m3 | Relative |
| kg/m3 | /tonne | /tonne | /m3 | /m3 | |
| Carbon Steel | 7820 | 550 | 1 | 4301 | 1,0 |
| Alloy Steels | 7820 | 830 | 1,51 | 6490,6 | 1,5 |
| Cast Iron | 7225 | 830 | 1,51 | 5996,75 | 1,4 |
| Stainless Steel | 7780 | 4450 | 8,1 | 34 621 | 8,0 |
| Aluminium alloys | 2700 | 2220 | 4,0 | 5994 | 1,4 |
| Copper Alloys | 8900 | 5550 | 10,1 | 49 395 | 11,5 |
| Zinc alloys | 7100 | 2220 | 4,0 | 15 762 | 3,7 |
| Magnesium alloys | 1800 | 4000 | 7,3 | 7200 | 1,8 |
| Titanium alloys | 4500 | 17 000 | 30,9 | 76 500 | 17,4 |
| Nickel alloys | 8900 | 18 000 | 32,7 | 160 200 | 36,8 |
Current Metal Prices.. November 2010
I have tried to obtain some current (Nov 2010) metal prices from various internet sources and I list them below..These sometimes differ considerably from the table above
| Material | Cost/tonne | Relative Cost (weight) | Relative Cost (volume) |
| /tonne | |||
| Steel (Billet) LME-Nov-2010 | 321 | 1 | 1 |
| Steel (Hot Rolled Plate)-MEPS-July-2010 | 505 | 1,6 | 1,6 |
| 304 Steel (Hot Rolled Plate)-MEPS-July-2010 | 2 536 | 7,9 | 7,9 |
| 316 Steel (Hot Rolled Plate)-MEPS-July-2010 | 3 535 | 11 | 11 |
| Tin- LME-Nov-2010 | 15 458 | 48 | 45 |
| Aluminium Alloy – LME-Nov-2010 | 1 407 | 4,.4 | 1,5 |
| Aluminium – LME-Nov-2010 | 1 425 | 4,4 | 1,5 |
| Copper – LME -Nov-2010 | 5 279 | 16,4 | 18,7 |
| Zinc – LME -Nov-2010 | 1 412 | 4,4 | 4,0 |
| Nickel – LME -Nov-2010 | 14 398 | 44 | 51 |
| Lead – LME-Nov-2010 | 1 414 | 4,4 | 6,4 |
| Titanium (ingot 6AL-4V) steelonthenet (11$/lb) | 15 700 | 49 | 28 |
Prices in dollars for 25mm round bar x 300mm long (0,00015m3 ) …November 2010 (Onlinemetals (USA)
| Metal | Price $ | 1000/tonne | 1000/m3 | Relative cost (weight) | Relative cost (volume) |
| Steel HR (A56) | 6 | 3,2 | 24,7 | 1 | 1 |
| Steel CD (12L40) | 7,4 | 3,9 | 30,5 | 1.23 | 1.23 |
| Alloy Steel (4130) | 9,99 | 5,3 | 41,2 | 1.66 | 1.66 |
| St.Stl (304L) | 15,34 | 8,1 | 63,2 | 2.6 | 2.56 |
| St.Stl (316L) | 20,61 | 10,9 | 84,9 | 3.4 | 3.44 |
| Aluminium (2011-T3) | 8,58 | 13,1 | 35,4 | 4.2 | 1.43 |
| Copper (C110) | 37,91 | 17,5 | 156,2 | 5.6 | 6.32 |
| Brass (C360) | 25,3 | 11,7 | 104,3 | 3.7 | 4.22 |
| Bronze | 42,09 | 19,5 | 173,5 | 6.2 | 7.0 |
| Titanium (6AL-4VG5) | 107 | 98 | 441 | 31 | 17.8 |
Comparison of raw bulk material costs above with actual metal stock prices
Looking at the cost per tonne of HR steel in the form of a 1″ dia round bar 1 foot long at 3200 against the LME price for the raw material in bulk for at 321/tonne illustrates the massive diiference in the price of raw materials to the actual price of materials as supplied for initial machining processes in small quantities.
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