Titanium alloys for brass instruments

Mouthpieces made for brass instruments cause allergic problems to the user, because the ions of the harmful metallic elements are dissolved into the blood via saliva due to corrosion. Therefore, mouthpieces made of nontoxic and allergy-free elements are required. Ti and its alloys are expected to efficiently solve this problem, because they are nontoxic and allergy-free metallic materials. For instance, Ti-Nb and Ti-Ta alloys are selected for making the mouthpiece of the trumpet. Herein, their vibration and sound-damping characteristics are discussed and compared with those for mouthpieces made of pure Ti and brass. Subsequently, the vibration and sound characteristics of the trumpet mouthpiece, with the practical size made of Ti-10Nb by precision casting, are compared with mouthpieces made of pure Ti and brass. Brass instruments, acoustic characteristics, generation principle of sound and role of mouthpiece, development of Ti alloys for trumpet mouthpieces including Young’s modulus (E) and density (ρ), resonant frequency and internal friction, relationship between E/ρ and resonant frequency, and corrosion resistance are discussed in this chapter. Furthermore, fabrication of trumpet mouthpieces using the developed Ti alloys for brass and sound characteristics of the trumpet mouthpiece made of Ti alloy are also discussed in this chapter.