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Old 05-07-2004, 06:29 PM
M_D M_D is offline
Amateur Metal Finisher
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 223
M_D
Default Re: Use of Titanium.

The titanium doesn't anodize with the same type of coating as aluminum, although the process can color it. Some people refer to this as anodizing, and I suppose technically it is. It only takes seconds or minutes, and by varying the voltage from about 17 to 70 volts it will turn colors right before your eyes. The color it turns depends on what the voltage is. Once it is colored with 24 volts for example, it can't be changed to the colors produced by a voltage lower than that, but the color can be changed to any color produced by a higher voltage.

The surface area of titanium rack does affect the process in anodizing aluminum. If it is a thin wire, where the surface area is next to nothing or quite minimal compared to the aluminum part, it can probably be ignored.

There is a thread at the top (sticky) entitled "The importance of good connections" that has some discussion on titanium racking that might be interesting if you haven’t read it already.

Link: http://www.caswellplating.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=2091

Where the surface area is significant, it appears the titanium robs enough current to be a significant factor, perhaps more so at low current densities than typical commercial anodizing current densities. Unfortunately, I can't give you any precise guidelines on how to factor it in, to where you can calculate it exactly like you would the aluminum parts if following the LCD instructions. One square foot of titanium wouldn't be equal to the same area of aluminum; I feel somewhat safe in saying that although it’s probably going out on a limb. For example, if you had aluminum parts totaling 144 square inches (1 square foot) and wanted to anodize at 6 amps current density, they would take 6 amps actual current (not the hanging wire or racking). If these parts were on titanium racking that also equaled 1 square foot (1 square foot of aluminum parts plus 1 square foot of titanium rack) my best guess would be to add 2-3 amps, and set it for 8-9 amps.

I have been using titanium racking for a few months, and at first didn’t appear to have any issues. The more I saw, the more I started to realize there might be issues. Now, I am virtually positive there are issues. Someone (I hate to publicly mention names without consent or prior knowledge, so I’ll leave it up to them if they want it known) who is more capable than I am in the electrical department has offered to help figure this issue out. Hopefully with in a few weeks there could be some more scientific data available than my “best guess” answer, although there is no guarantee of a simple answer.
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