Titanium ?

[A.K. Boomer]

Iv only worked with it a little ,,,, whats it like to weld and machine, does welding totally jack with the heat treat like aluminum? are thier different "mixes" of titanium?

[SGW]

Yes, there are different alloys. What their individual properties are, I have no idea. Like you, I've only worked with titanium a little. Somebody gave me a couple pieces, so it was "mystery titanium."

For machining, wicked sharp HSS is fine. Machining generates a lot of heat compared to steel, so coolant helps.

This has been discussed before, so a search of the archives may be useful.

I can't help you out at all on welding.

[IOWOLF]

Don't touch it It will Poison you !

On second thought.............

[x39]

For machining, wicked sharp HSS is fine. Machining generates a lot of heat compared to steel, so coolant helps. .

In my experience, coolant is crucial. As long as a flood of coolant is maintained, the stuff I've worked with cut like butter. Welds nice too.

[Leigh]

I do know that titanium is flammable under certain circumstances. Chips in particular may ignite.

We got a titanium job in at the last shop where I worked, and they insisted that the customer buy a special fire extinguisher ($400) to keep near the machine while they were doing the job. It was returned to the customer with the finished parts. The job was completed without incident.

[A.K. Boomer]

I do know that titanium is flammable under certain circumstances. Chips in particular may ignite.

We got a titanium job in at the last shop where I worked, and they insisted that the customer buy a special fire extinguisher ($400) to keep near the machine while they were doing the job. It was returned to the customer with the finished parts. The job was completed without incident.

Does it have magnesium in it?

[doctor demo]

I do know that titanium is flammable under certain circumstances. Chips in particular may ignite.

We got a titanium job in at the last shop where I worked, and they insisted that the customer buy a special fire extinguisher ($400) to keep near the machine while they were doing the job. It was returned to the customer with the finished parts. The job was completed without incident.

i machined some titanium valve spring retainers for a drag race buddy of mine afew years ago,not knowing any thing about ti i used carbide no coolant. it was working well, taking light cuts ,nice finish i was about halfway through the job [ 16 retainers] nice pile of turnings in the bed and all of a sudden...
poof! the whole garage lit up like some one turned on a searchlight, then just as quick it was gone but the ashes were realy strange they were greyish-black and still maintained their original spring spiral shape but if you touched them they just vanashed or turned to soot. iguess i was lucky that i only had a few grams of chips and not a few pounds! didn't have afire ex handy.

steve

[A.K. Boomer]

Firemen are trained to recognize certain risks with certain situations in which magnesium may be involved, one example is in garage fires and motorcycles, you dont turn a fire hose on a motorcycle or it could literally blow up,,, Magnesium burns at such a high temp it just ends up using the water as an oxygen boost,,, My bro gave me a bunch of mag chips (from a porsche engine block) that were in a coffee can, i lit the top and it imediatly started a very controlled spread over the entire surface, hot but not crazy,,, we had a garden hose going and i stood back as far as it allowed --- used the proper trajectory and ended up squirting (under pressure) with the use of my thumb on the end of the hose -- a bunch of water into the can, in broad daylight it was a spectacular display of homemade fireworks --- unbelievable,,, mag chips are actually some of the ingrediants in fireworks... when we went back to inspect the metal can half of it was melted away...

[Evan]

Titanium isn't toxic but it is highly flammable. It ignites far below the melting point of the material and is so sensitive that titanium powder can be ignited by static sparks.

You cannot weld it except in a completely inert gas atmosphere. It will burn in air, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. It will explode in some environments and in contact with some materials. I have done a little bit of work here and there with titanium. It's often used on the trailing edges of large jet aircraft wings to protect the structure from the heat of the exhaust since it has high hot strength and isn't easy to ignite in bulk form. I once had to cut eight feet of titanium skin when changing the wings out on a C-130. As we were on night shift and the bosses had gone home I suggested to the lead hand that I try something a little different. He agreed and I whipped out my muffler chisel. It sliced through it in about 15 minutes instead of the 4 hours we were alloted by nibbling it.

I won't consider using it in my home shop, it's too dangerous.

[JCHannum]

Titanium can be welded by TIG, Mig and other methods. I have tigged and silver soldered titanium tubing.

It is susceptable to contamination, and purging of the weld area is required. There is a lot of good information here;

http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1245

When handling titanium, whether welding or machining, good housekeeping is a requisite. segregate it from other materials, and do not allow the chips to accumulate.

A maintenance shop I ran used quite a bit of titanium as we were involved in handling large quantities of concentrated hydrochloric acid, and titanium, phosphur bronze, PVC, fiberglass and rubber were the materials of choice. We routinely machined and occasionally welded titanium and never had any fires.