In its quest for perfection, the Akrapovic team stumbled upon titanium: an outstanding metal that has shown itself to be ideally suited to the extreme working conditions endured by the company's exhausts. Now we will unveil the myster of this nearly mythical metal.
The next time when you admire a glorious sunset on a sandy beach, you may look at the sand in a different way, and wonder if there's titanium under your feet. This is because it can be found in the black sand, which is actually a rutile mineral, one of the sources of this amazing metal.
Today, titanium is mainly used in the form of fine dust as a pigment in white wall paints and, of course, in metallurgy.
A short overview of its history tells us that it was first discovered as an element in England in 1791 and got its name, inspired by Ancient Greek mythology, four years later in Germany.
This exceptional light metal is heat- and corrosion resistant, but suffers from being exceptionally difficult to extract from its principal mineral ores.
With the rapid developments in the aviation and space industries in the 1950s this, however, began to change. Titanium became one of the most wanted metals for special purposes. It subsequently became popular in other areas as well, such as sports, medicine and the automotive industry...including exhaust systems for motorcycles.
The Akrapovic company broke new ground by introducing titanium into its mass-produced exhaust systems in 1997, thereby causing a de-facto revolution.
What was not long ago reserved for factory-team riders suddenly became available to individuals and motorcycle lovers, who could previously merely dream about a titanium exhaust.
But, as far as Akrapovic is concerned, this is only the begining. The company wants to stress that titanium has a very broad meaning and the use of its name is often too simplified. There are several types of titanium alloys that are divided into various grades (1, 2, 3, 4), each with its own specific characteristics. Akrapovic does not use pure titanium, nor the aforementioned regular alloy types, as these do not have the characteristics required for designing and manufacturing the highest-quality exhaust systems. Akrapovic uses soley grade 37 or XT titanium alloys, which are delivered to the company in the form of giant sheets and discs from Japan and the USA.
The sheets are then cut by lasers while the discs are fed to a unique pipe-making machine and later transformed into exhaust pipes.
It is this process that distinguishes Akrapovic and gives it an edge, since the company can design the exact titanium pipes it needs without having to resort to outside suppliers.
It is this decision to pursue perfection that sets Akrapovic apart from the rest. While titanium alloys can be bought on the market, none of its competitors have the in-house know-how, machines and tools required to successfully transform the metal into functioning exhaust systems.
From space shuttle to motorcycle
Of course, long years of experience also plays a decisive role here. Imagine your motorcycle embellished by the same (or at least very similar) type of titanium used by NASA for the liquid oxygen tanks on its rockets or those used by the aviation industry for airplane components.
Compared to other titanium alloys of lower grades, high-grade titanium is much more suited to manual welding and, above all, extremely stable and resistant to oxidation at extreme temperatures of up to 900 degrees C. While structural damage starts at temperatures above 400 degrees C for normal titnaium, the alloy used b y Akrapovic feels completely comfortable even if exposed to temperatures between 500 and 700 degrees C for prolonged periods of time.
This makes it an ideal material for exhaust systems. However, it is very dificult to design and cut, while its characteristics pose an additional problem: depending on its structure, it can stretch unevenly.
High skilled experts
In order to guarantee continuous progress and put hte company one step ahead of its competitors, Akrapovic operates modern laboratories, where engineers cooperate with various European universities to uncover the characteristics of the latest titanium alloys. This allows the company to use new and innovative ways in its production. All raw materials are, moreover, submitted to strict quality control and analysis in the laboratory in order to guarantee the suitability of the end product.
The extensive use of titanium and the large quantities of waste materials that go with it, have forced the company to open up yet another department.
Akrapovic recently launched a state-of-the-art foundry where excess titanium is smelted into components for new exhaust systems, such as header flanges. This allows the company to manufacturer even better exhausts.
By using the Akrapovic exhaust on your sports car, such as the Porsche 911 or BMW M3, you can save up to half the weight of the original exhaust. Not only is titanium itself some 40% lighter then quality stainless steel, its heat resistance allows for varied designs, resulting in this amazing weight loss. In practice, this menas that you could reduce the weight of your car by up to 30 kilograms, giving you better handling and faster laps on the track.
And, best of all, titanium gets a bluish iridescent hue when exposed to high temperatures. It is as if the sand from the beach wanted to remind you that it will always retain a piece of the blue sea touched by glorious sunshine.
