titanium welding
Q.Not a single jewelry making book I've ever seen treats this as if it's even possible. Machining and cold connections are the only thing covered. Has anyone out there succesfully done tiny welds on titanium or other similar metals? And, if not welding, brazing? ......And, more specifically, of exactly what does your setup consist, and exactly what is involved in doing it?
A.Now, the problem with welding or soldering the stuff is simply that it's very difficult to get a metal to metal contact with molten metal. As titanium heats up, it's desire to oxidize increases all the more (heated titanium gets jet black, as the oxide layer becomes very thick). And fluxes we normally use to remove or prevent oxides on other non-ferrous metals are not especially effective with titanium, partly because the fluxes don't sufficiently exclude oxygen, and as fast as a flux might dissolve the oxide layer, more oxide forms. Still, in some limited sense, soldering does now and then take place. If you use a titanium solder pick, you'll sometimes find the solder has in fact, adhered to the pick. That's because with friction, abrasion, and sufficiently repeated applications of molten metal and flux, some has managed to push past the oxide and adhere to the titanium. So yes, in that instance, you've soldered titanium. But note that what you've soldered to is a thoroughly blackened piece of titanium, and when it's got that hard black oxide, it becomes rather brittle too. In industry, though, there are special fluxes made for this use, generally with the addition of inert gas shielding. This means the heating must be of a nature that it doesn't displace the gas shielding. Some types of arc welding, for example, work well with titanium, as the gas shield allows the flux coated rods, or just friction with the filler wire, to displace the oxide layer and form a weld. But this isn't a simple jewelers torch.
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