titanium

Is there a process to weld or braze titanium in a home-shop conditions? I tried silver solder, brass etc, to no avail, does not wet titanium as far as I can see.

thanks

Stan

Reply to
stig
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The guys at this newsgroup can help.

sci.engr.joining.welding

Reply to
jackK

There is a titanium solder, but it is extremely expensive. It is used in Aerospace.

TIG welding it is easy as long as the entire heat affected zone is purged of air with argon.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

How does one do that? Does it always require a cabinet or dam of some sort, or could one modify a torch or use it in a way which keeps argon on the HAZ?

Peter

Reply to
Peter Grey

You can purge a glovebox, yes. I would suppose two gas nozzles, one on each side, would be a little tricky, but not impossible.

Tim

-- "California is the breakfast state: fruits, nuts and flakes." Website:

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Reply to
Tim Williams

You can easily make a glove-box or glove-bag, or for small parts you can make up gas jets to protect a small area.

Tubes can be purged from the inside by flooding argon down the tube.

I made a large acrylic glove box last year, but I have since had a better idea.

Make an acrylic box big enough for your pieces with glove holes in one side. Leave the top off. Make a visqueen plastic bag that fits inside the tank and tape it around the top edges of the tank.

You have to have some holes in the box for the torch hoses, and argon feed. Have one hole big enough to connect a small shopvac. Turn on the shopvac to suck out all the air and make the bag conform to the inside of the tank. Now close off that hole and flood in the argon. Leave a small hole at the top of the bag to allow gases to escape.

Argon is heavier than air. As the box and bag inflate the air will leak out the top. Once the bag is completely inflated above the box you have a pretty pure argon atmosphere, because it had very little air in it to start with.

If you have a fixed rigid box you have to flow argon through it for a while to make sure you have gotten all the air out.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Here is one that CK sells

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Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Thanks for the info.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Grey

It depends greatly on the configuration of the part. It is possible in some cases to just use the TIG torch, and set up some temporary dams to contain the Argon. A plate against the back of a butt weld is one way to do it. Sometimes these backup plates have holes or channels that are connected to the Argon supply, too. For straight-line welds, the heat affected zone can be kept quite small with proper TIG techniques. There are other configurations where some kind of box is just about required.

It also depends on whether this is aerospace or jewelry, of course! But, be careful, as you could easily start a metal fire with Titanium. If you do, the closest fire extinguisher is in your hand already, the torch! Hit the fire with pure Argon, it sure can't burn in that. But, if the gas shielding is really bad, like a breeze blowing the Argon away, you have a problem.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

--Here's how I've been doing it on the cheap:

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Reply to
steamer

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