Tig Welding Titanium is cool. But a half ass effort is a sure way to ruin an expensive product. Lets face it, can you think of anything made out of titanium that is cheap? From Mountain bikes to Big Bertha Golf drivers to Aerospace parts to Medical implants, Titanium is used because of its unique properties like high strength to weight ratio and unreal corrosion resistance. And Titanium is not cheap. You only get one shot at welding titanium. Once you screw up, you cant get away with just welding it again like you can with stainless steel. Usually, the entire weld needs to be removed and sometimes that just plain ruins the product. There are 3 big mistake people make when tig welding titanium: Using the wrong filler metal - Trying to weld titanium with anything other than titanium turns the weld into a hard as glass material. You can hear it cracking before it even cools off. Not shielding the weld puddle adequately - When Titanium gets red hot, it loves to suck in all kind of impurities like oxygen and hydrogen. Once this happens, you are screwed, glued, and tattooed. Game over. The weld has to be removed. Not cleaning the metal - porosity is a problem when tig welding titanium. Anything on the surface like oil, or dust, will cause porosity. Strict welding codes like American Welding Society D17.1 have very strict limitations on porosity. But the good news is that Tig welding titanium is really no harder than welding stainless steel if you follow cleaning and argon shielding procedures to the letter. Learn more about Tig Welding Titanium as well as Down and Dirty welding tips. For TIG, MIG, STICK welding at http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/ |
