Working With Titanium Sheet Metal

You need very effective lubricants that might contain graphite or moly.

Working with titanium sheet metal.

Before you begin forming the titanium make sure it is clean and free of surface defects. We stock a variety of commercially pure grades and titanium alloys in coil sheet plate rod bar wire and tubing forms. As others said standard tin snips work well for cutting ti foils. Blanking of titanium alloy sheet and plate 6 4 mm 0 25 in thick or less is done in a punch press.

Compared to machining other metals a larger percentage of the heat in a titanium machining process instead goes into the tool. Titanium sheet and. Because of this the file must be cleaned frequently. A sharp paper punch will make clean holes.

We maintain a fully equipped state of the art sheet metal shop manufacturing products made of brass copper stainless steel and titanium zinc utilizing precision equipment made in germany and italy. Dies must be rigid and sharp to prevent cracking of the work metal. Close to 10 million tons of titanium mineral concentrate was produced in 2015 although only a small fraction about 5 of titanium concentrate produced each year ultimately ends up in titanium metal. When correct parameters have been established tolerances similar to those attainable with stainless steel are possible with titanium and its alloys.

As with other metals maximum blank size depends on stock thickness shear strength and available press capacity. When drilling use sharp bits and a lubricant. I can say first hand that when machining and your not flooding with coolant and your tool gets dull and you got a bunch of hot chips. Our website is also a great resource for titanium specifications and practical information on working with this light strong metal.

To prevent edge cracking radius the burred and sharp edges. See our extensive titanium stock list for every pure grade and alloy. The file has a tendency to clog loading itself with particles of titanium that will òsmearó the workpiece. Csi architectural metal offers engineered metal systems for building exterior and interior applications made by design.

Hardened tool steel must be used for adequate die life. Titanium is readily formed at room temperature using techniques and equipment suitable for steel. Instead most are used in the production of titanium dioxide tio 2 a whitening pigment used in paints foods medicines and cosmetics. I ve found that a dremel cut off wheel works well for making slots deburring and shaping edges.

One of the crucial challenges of titanium is heat dissipation. Never worked with any titanium sheet metal but have machined a bunch. In this metal relatively little of the heat generated during the machining operation is ejected with the chip. Well lets just say when they ignite the only way to put them out is with a halon fire extinguisher they burn so hot it looks like you heated all the machine guards with a rosebud for about 10 min.

Heavy scissors will cut anything thinner than 0 005 but you ll dull them.