[Jewelry making - Article 01006] - Re: [Orchid] Anodizing Ti6Al4V titanium

[Spiderchain Jewelry]

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    Try etching the living daylights out of it. 

    I anodize niobium just about every week and I have great success
    with it, so I'm no newbie to anodizing. But titanium is a MUCH
    trickier beast. It'll get gunky and "burned" looking in situations
    that will yield a beautiful glowing color on the niobium. The
    fantabulously wonderful people at Reactive Metals have told me that I
    really need to etch my titanium before anodizing it because titanium
    is SO reactive that it oxidizes almost instantly in air, and that
    natural oxide layer interferes with the pretty oxide layer that I
    WANT to be there. 

    Here's what they told me to do... 

    Etch it. Rinse well. Store the etched piece in distilled water until
    you're ready to use it. Do NOT let it hang out in air, or you'll
    just have to etch again before anodizing. 

    That said, I'd strongly recommend talking to the Reactive Metals
    people for the final say on what's what. I have a narrow band of
    anodizing skill where I'm pretty comfortable, but they're the folks
    with the Real Answers. 

    -Spider (eyeing some 14ga titanium jump rings that really want to be
    dark blue)
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