Is Titanium Magnetic? Is Material Safe in MRI?

Titanium is one of the popular materials used in a wide array of biomedical implants. Thus, many wonder if titanium is magnetic or not. Read on to know the answer.

Is Titanium Magnetic?

Titanium is a commonly used metal because of its durability, low weight, and corrosion resistance. While titanium has many useful characteristics, one that frequently comes up is whether it is magnetic. To put it succinctly, -titanium is not magnetic.

This is due to titanium's lack of unpaired electrons in its crystalline structure, which is necessary for a material to have magnetic characteristics. This indicates that titanium is a diamagnetic substance and does not interact with magnetic fields.

Other metals, like iron, cobalt, and nickel, are magnetic because their unpaired electrons make them susceptible to magnetic fields' attraction. When exposed to a magnetic field, these metals get magnetized and stay that way until the magnetic field is removed.

Remembering that impurities like iron can impact titanium's non-magnetic characteristics is vital. A titanium alloy may have some magnetic features if it contains a sizable proportion of iron.

However, there are no magnetic characteristics in pure titanium. It is a perfect metal for various applications, including medical devices, aircraft, and chemical processes.

Titanium can either be paramagnetic or diamagnetic, depending on the titanium used. The two most popular types of titanium are alloyed titanium and pure titanium. Since it is diamagnetic, pure titanium will not be drawn to a magnet.

However, alloyed titanium can either be paramagnetic or ferromagnetic, depending on the alloy's chemical makeup. For instance, if iron is present in the alloy as one of its constituents, it will typically be ferromagnetic and drawn to a magnet.

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Is Titanium Safe in MRI?

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is widely used for diagnosing, staging, and follow-up of diseases. MRI is a handy diagnostic tool for musculoskeletal and cerebrovascular imaging because it has excellent soft tissue contrast and is considered safer than other modalities, as it does not expose the body to radiation.

However, MRI is not without risks. During an MRI scan, a metal implant in the patient's body can be dangerous due to excessive magnetic field interactions.

Those with titanium implants do not need to worry because the titanium used is a paramagnetic material. According to a study, titanium is unaffected by the MRI's magnetic field due to its paramagnetic nature. Implant-related problems are doubtful, making it safe for patients to utilize MRI.

The safety, compatibility, and imaging diagnostic artifacts of surgical titanium implants have been thoroughly examined during the past three decades. According to most studies, most nonferromagnetic implants are safe for patients in MRI.

However, alloys make the titanium plates used in the craniofacial region. Because the effects of MRI rely on the ratio of the alloy's components, further precise investigation is required.