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Originally Posted On: https://armesprecision.com/challenges-with-welding-titanium/
Challenges with Welding Titanium
Titanium is a metal that’s widely used in the aerospace, industrial automotive, and defense industries. For high-end manufacturing businesses working on a project, it’s a solid metal for projects because of its good qualities. More specifically, its unique ability to resist corrosion and strength-to-weight ratio. It’s no surprise that the metal ranks tall on project manager’s load lists.
It’s those very properties that also make titanium a tough metal to weld.
In this article, we’ll explore what makes titanium a high-end metal and the challenges that arise from its atomic makeup.
What Makes Titanium Unique?
Titanium’s high strength-to-weight ratio and resistance to corrosion are just two of the qualities that make this metal unique. It’s also structurally different from other metals, with titanium being an HCP (hexagonal close-packed) structure. Steel has a BCC (body-centered cubic) structure, which doesn’t allow for a lower density or high strength-to-weight ratio.
How these properties can aid your project:
- Substitution: In situations where another metal isn’t a good fit, titanium may be a good option to insert. In this sense, it’s akin to a designated hitter in baseball substituting for a pitcher. It’s an action that benefits the entire project or team as a whole.
- Lightweight: Stainless steel is a commonly used metal for aviation projects. But it’s heavier than some other metals and has a low strength-to-weight ratio. This makes it unsuitable for aviation or aerospace applications where decreased weight is a must. Titanium’s high strength-to-weight ratio can help a project in this situation.
- Non-corrosive: Underwater utilities may use bronze or aluminum for their equipment. While being strong metals for the job, they’re not resistant to everything and will eventually corrode. Titanium has shown strong resistance to corrosion under most subsea environments. For example, it could last a very long time where gas and oil extraction would take place. This makes it a cost-effective metal as well since it has shown years of exposure with no measurable corrosion.
- Recyclable: Titanium’s corrosion avoidance gives it the ornate ability to be recycled. For anyone with a project at hand, this is an attractive trait because it cuts costs in the future. They’d already have titanium to reuse instead of requiring virgin production of the metal. Plus it’d take a long time to recycle anyway since titanium is resistant to most environments as long as there’s a little moisture.
- Non-magnetic: Unlike many metals, titanium is non-magnetic. This is useful for projects involving aerospace, chemical processing, or medical equipment. Using titanium ensures no malfunctions can be caused by interference with magnetic fields.
Now while these applications of titanium make it an obvious choice for projects, we haven’t touched the rough side of the rock yet.
Why Titanium Is Hard to Weld?
Welding titanium is difficult for several reasons:
- High Melting Point: Because of its strong chemical bond, titanium has a higher melting point compared to other common metals. For your project, manufacturers must generate and maintain enough heat to accomplish proper fusion during the welding process. if done incorrectly, the metal will distort or overheat. It also has a low thermal conductivity. So keeping the area of the weld hot enough so the metal can be welded is key.
- Reactive: Titanium is picky about what gases it doesn’t react to. For instance, its affinity to oxygen causes defects or brittleness within a weld. However, it doesn’t react to helium, which welders use as a shielding gas within the welding process. The environment for the weld must be controlled, making it a challenge to weld in the first place.
- Contamination: Welding areas must be kept clean as well. Even the smallest of impurities or contaminants, such as grease, surface oxides, or even oils, adversely affect the quality of titanium welds. So for your project, it’s key to choose a manufacturer that does the little things like keeping a clean workspace.
These traits of titanium pose a challenge for manufacturers to deal with when welding. However, quality welding and experience can still get the job done.
Titanium weld example
Compatibility with Titanium
Titanium welds with other metals of course, but the process is difficult due to the list of challenges above. This affects the selection of welding techniques and coatings/surface treatments. If done right, this optimizes titanium’s performance and the flow of an entire project. If done wrong, which can easily happen, it can cost manufacturers time and money.
You want manufacturers that have tools and experience that allow seamless compatibility between titanium and other items. This lets you have the confidence that your project will come to fruition.
Tips for Manufacturing with Titanium
Gas Shielding is arguably the most crucial aspect of titanium welding, and for your project, you want to make sure your manufacturer does it right. Quality manufacturers will:
- Backup Shields: Sometimes one shield isn’t enough. Just using some aluminum foil over a weld can be a backup shield. When working with such a reactive metal as titanium, using a manufacturer that goes this extra mile is essential.
- Flexible welding enclosures: For projects that are using small amounts of titanium, opting for a flexible welding enclosure can save costs. Not all projects need an entire metal box surrounding a weld.
- Inert Gas: This enclosure still needs to be controlled with a shielding gas. You’re going to want a manufacturer that knows the process of plugging in enough inert gas so the weld puddles correctly.
- Proper Joints: For your titanium project, you’re going to want disciplined manufacturing to do the job. Making sure their metals are clamped and in the correct joint positions during titanium welding is also important for good results. This helps avoid burn-through, which is excessive melting that results in a hole through the weld.
Quality Titanium Manufacturing
Titanium welding is a robust process that’s rewarding if done correctly. However, even if completed, another thing to consider is if the weld was well done. If you’re someone who is, or is going to work with titanium, consider Armes Precision for the job.
Armes Precision’s quality welding department only scratches the surface of what we offer. We also specialize in aerospace and defense, as well as complex assembly of any kind of project you can think of.
Furthermore, our response time to quote requests, years upon years of experience in the industry, and dedication to superior manufacturing quality distinguishes us from the rest. Not to mention, requesting a quote is completely free.
If you’re looking for a reliable, experienced, and highly skilled company to manufacture your titanium project, send an RFQ (request for a quote) today.
