What is TranTixxii?
Introduction of the brand

First discovery of titanium

Titanium was first discovered by W. Gregor, a clergyman, on a beach in Cornwall, England, towards the end of the 18th century.
Thereafter, it was named “titanium” by M. H. Klaproth, German chemist, meaning an element sealed in the ore in association with “Titan” who, in Greek mythology, was confined in the bowels of the earth.

Establishment of mass-production

In 1948, about 160 years later after the discovery of titanium by W. Gregor, W. J. Kroll, a metallurgist from Luxembourg, succeeded in developing the technology for mass production by extracting titanium from titanium ore. Then, the industrial production and practical use of titanium started.

Titanium that came to be mass-produced after ages making try and error has been utilized in a broad range of areas including aircraft and various plants such as chemicals, power and sea-water desalination, taking advantage of its characteristic features: “lightweight”, “strength” and “extreme corrosion resistance”.

First application in architectural field

Also in the architectural field, the application of titanium enhanced in designability, in addition to its fundamental superior material properties was commenced in the 1970s and a great number of technical issues have been settled for further growth of the market.

Among such numerous issues, the greatest one that knocked the suitability of titanium as a building material was the phenomenon of discoloration in which the surface of titanium changed from silver to brown partially.

Development of "Titanium less subject to discoloration"

Nippon Steel successfully unraveled the mechanism of this discoloration phenomenon and established the technology to remove the impurities in the surface layer of titanium that causes discoloration, resulting in the development of “titanium less subject to discoloration” in 2001, which was a world-first.

Nippon Steel has continued thereafter to develop technologies in response to varied requests from customers and architects and made efforts to have the product used in a number of well-known buildings at home and abroad to extend its track record of usage.