The Armour Archive

can anyone tell me about this?
I have some GR2 sheet 0.02" thick I wanted to form,
had a friend using an english wheel on it and he says it needs anealing.
we found a tempreture but nothing about quenching or how long to allow slow cooling for.

found a good article
http://www.steelforge.com/forgings/allo ... report.php


The inert gas/vacume annealing is to reduce surface oxdaiton at the critical temps.
I don't think TI is prone to hydrogen migration or any of the other odd stuff that can happen with steel.
Most of my metal books are just to old to cover much with TI.

many thanks losthelm

DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ti absorbs N2 when hot and becomes brittle as glass I would STRONGLY suggest working in an argon box if possible! (know anyone with an induction forge?---you could rig a box fairly simply with one)

Thomas who had forged enough Ti to have experienced the joy of having your simple piece snap in your hands from embrittlement.

actually titanium absorbs Hydrogen so keep it away from hydrogen rich atmospheres like in a propane forge.

six heats saw it snap for me.

as mentioned it needs to be heated in argon.

the question is why anneal it?

your problem is most likely from its elongation percentage... which is less than 20 percent. meaning it only stretches so far and then it cracks.

if you need more stretching use cp1(25%) and use a much thicker piece say about .050 or .063?

thin metal is tough to work. ultrathin Ti is impossible to get more than simple shapes..

Thomas is absolutely correct that you should be using either an argon shield gas or a vacuum box; Nitrogen and Oxygen are bad things for Ti at heat and will result in failures.

I feel obligated to add that Ti can be worked at low heats (approximately 600 degrees F, depending upon alloy); it's once you've gotten over 1200-1400 degrees F that the Ti begins rapidly nitriding/oxidizing. However, working Ti at low heat means you need to be working incredibly rapidly (all shaping to take place within 30 seconds) and the peice should not be brought up to heat more than a few times. This isn't as bad as it sounds, I can take a Ti Elbow Cop from flat sheet to fully formed depth in 3 heats, but I do take the time to preheat all of my hammers and forms to minimize heat loss.


Frederich

thanks for the info guys, I will pass it on.

the reason for this is not because I needed something made from the Ti but I did get a few sheets at a local scrapyard at a very good price and am selling it to anyone who wants it, a friend who wanted to see what he could do with it is into wheeling and panel beating so I said here is a bit for you and a bit for me, now make something for me as practice for making what you want to make.
I will have a sample that has been shaped to show it is possible

A friend of mine got his MFA with a thesis on hand working of Ti. You can do quite a lot with it; but it's hard on the pocketbook, time, your body, etc.

Sure is pretty though when polished and anodized. I have a small Ti screwdriver for my steampunk toolkit that I forged from a piece of scrap Ti and a friend polished and anodized for me.

"In air at temperatures above 750 C (1382 F), titanium absorbs nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon to become Contaminated and brittle"

Looks like we were all right!

Thomas