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The Titanium Myth
There has been a buzz in the Musky community for a few years about the indestructibility of Titanium leaders...Nothing is indestructible !
The failure of a Titanium leader came up during a recent discussion with a Musky angler at the Milwaukee Musky show. He commented that he thought that the darn things were indestructible and that he would not have to buy leaders again until his leader broke. He went on to say that the leader did not show any sign of cracking until it just broke in the middle (a solid wire Titanium leader). He asked me if I could explain what happened…I couldn’t, but I told him that I would research the matter to see if I could discover a reason.
I got a hold of a couple of metallurgical engineers that I know from my Aerospace days when I was a director of Quality Assurance to see if they could shed some immediate perspective on the matter of Titanium metal fatigue.
My question to them opened a flood gate of information about Titanium and its characteristic assets and short comings. I could have written a doctorial dissertation with all of the information that I received. Distilled down, the information stacks up this way:
The greater the mass of the Titanium metal product, the slower the rate of metal fatigue…that is to say that a solid sheet of Titanium used as skin for an aircraft will fatigue at a slower rate than a single strand of Titanium wire that is .018 - .025 of an inch in diameter. The reason for that is related to the exaggerated bending and twisting associated with the wire.
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The matter boils down to a question of confidence. When you use a traditional steel leader, you can tell when it is time to replace the leader based upon evidence of bending and the stress of use. Unlike the steel leader, the Titanium leader does not display any indication that a problem exists regarding the fatigue of the metal. The illustration shown here demonstrates that metal fatigue can exist in the sub-surface of the metal without any external indication of failure. All of a sudden the leader fails and you are left to wonder what in the heck happened. |
The bottom line is that bending and twisting of metal creates fatigue…stranded wire is no exception.So what can be done? Well, you cannot change the basic characteristic of metal to fatigue. Certainly, leaders get one heck of a workout during a Musky season and there is no formula that one could apply that would forecast a threshold for replacement.
Another area of concern with Titanium leaders, and any other leader that uses a mechanical crimp to close the leader loops, is related to pull strength. There have been problems reported with leader crimps pulling out at less than the rated strength of the leader. Before you buy a leader using crimps, you might want to ask if each leader is "pull tested" to verify its rating.As a general rule of thumb, you can replace your Titanium leaders at the end of each Musky season. Of course, that can be costly but the possibility of losing a Musky to a failed leader far out weighs the cost associated with leader replacement or you can return to using less expensive steel leaders where you can better assess the need to replace the leader…you will have to be the judge.
Click Here To See A Stainless Steel Leader Making Kit.
Click Here For An Assortment Of Pre-made Stainless Steel Leaders.
What about stranded Titanium leaders?
Tight lines