How To Tell If It's Really Titanium 280
With the growing popularity of titanium, some disreputable merchandisers are passing off other materials as the more expensive metal. Popular Science looks at a surefire way to prove what that credit card/crowbar/ring is really made of. "Hold any genuine titanium metal object to a grinding wheel (even a little grindstone on a Dremel tool will do), and it gives off a shower of brilliant white sparks unlike any softer common metal. The sparks are tiny pieces of cut titanium--the friction of the grinder heats them till they burn white-hot. Hold a grindstone to the shackle of a "titanium" padlock from Master Lock, however, and you'll instead see the telltale fine, long, yellow sparks of high-carbon steel."
is there a better way? (Score:5, Insightful)
Density test (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Density test (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Density test (Score:5, Funny)
a magnet? (Score:2)
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Steel is a blend of iron and carbon. Mostly iron, in all its incarnations, and iron is always magnetic.
High-carbon steel is very hard but a bit brittle, while steels with less carbon will usually deform before they crack. There is always a compromise between hardness and toughness.
Re:a magnet? (Score:5, Informative)
That is a big fallacy. There are some alloys in which iron is around 98-99% which are non-magnetic (think unusual alloying elements like niobium and rhenium).
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Re:a magnet? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:a magnet? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:a magnet? (Score:2)
Re:a magnet? (Score:4, Funny)
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And why the heck need I waste all this text explaining myself to you anyway? It's all evident...
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Re:a magnet? (Score:5, Informative)
There's a reason no other knives are made of titanium, or anything besides steel for that matter.
Titanium is known to be a very strong metal. If you know anything about metallurgy and its terminology, strong and hard are different properties, and usually work against each other: a metal is usually strong, but not hard, or vice versa, not both. Steel can be made to be hard, but brittle, or strong (which is more flexible) but not very hard.
Anyone with a titanium ring knows that it's not a hard metal at all: it's easily scratched unless it has a protective coating (usually diamond). Sure, it might prevent a automatic pressure door on an undersea rig from locking you in, but it doesn't hold a sharp edge at all.
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Useful trivia: Magnetism is slightly harder than you think.
Re:a magnet? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:a magnet? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:a magnet? (Score:5, Informative)
And yes, I am a loudspeaker engineer... ;)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Re:a magnet? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:is there a better way? (Score:5, Funny)
Dan East
Re:is there a better way? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:is there a better way? (Score:5, Informative)
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Titanium is the only metal hydrogen peroxide reacts with.
Grinding titanum in considered very dangerous. It can explode.
Whoever wrote the article is seriously undereducated.
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Titanium is passivated in it and does not dissolve or show any signs of damage (except in extremely high saturation fuming nitric acid). At the same time it happily dissolves is hidrocloric, hidrofluoric acid. It will also dissolve in sulfuric acid even in low concentrations. IIRC it did not like th
Archimedes principle? (Score:3, Insightful)
It worked for gold, why not for titanium?
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The old ones took up a room, had a radioactive source, and the spectrometer had to be cooled with liquid N2.
The modern PMIs are pretty nice. Point at a piece of metal, pull the trigger, and in 5 seconds it tells you if it is 304, 316, C-276, 800HT, or whatever. If the metal is not in the database, then it tells you the elemental makeup so you can look it up, and if it's a real alloy enter it into the database. If it'
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Re:Safety first? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Oh great... (Score:5, Funny)
Good news (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good news (Score:5, Funny)
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Or use a cutting torch (Score:3, Funny)
He also runs periodictable.com (Score:5, Informative)
Not Just Titanium (Score:2)
But they were so hot they caught my workshop on fire.
Re:Not Just Titanium (Score:4, Funny)
Don't try this away from home (Score:3, Insightful)
This is very much a point where Hanlon's Razor can be applied.
...it was just aluminum, which doesn't burn. (Score:2)
Jiffy pop (Score:2)
Ow! Shit! (Score:5, Funny)
You can be sure I'll be returning these "titanium" batteries just as soon as I'm back from Emergency!
A few simple ones (Score:5, Informative)
b: Titanium's density is 4.5g/cm^3 , iron is 7.8g/cm^3
c: Titanium is corrosion resistant to dillute sulfuric and hydrochloric acid, iron is not.
Re:A few simple ones (Score:4, Informative)
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Plus most jewellers are already set up to do the water-weighing.
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I have the extra links from my Fossil Blue Titanium watch that I can test.
Interesting! (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Interesting! (Score:5, Interesting)
Physics to the rescue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitzur-Vaidman_bomb-tester [wikipedia.org]
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On average, this will identify all of the dud bombs, explode half of the usable bombs, and identify half of the usable bombs without detonating them.
Of the non-exploded bombs, you won't be sure which one is a dud and which not.
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GRIND THIS! (Score:4, Funny)
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Tip (Score:2)
Titanium: not recommended for rings (Score:4, Interesting)
One day the guy had some kind of accident, and his ring finger was mashed; it swelled up badly. They took him to the emergency room. In the ER, someone got out the cutters to cut the ring off the swollen finger. Whoops, titanium. The cutters (probably simple diagonal cutters) had no problem with the usual soft gold rings, but titanium was too hard! They wound up getting a Dremel tool or the equivalent and cutting the titanium ring off (very carefully, I imagine).
The moral of the story: if you get a titanium ring made, maybe you should wear it like a necklace.
P.S. Merry Christmas everyone.
steveha
They can be cut off. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Titanium: not recommended for rings (Score:5, Funny)
Couple hours later I met some aliens.
(Yeah, I know, but it sounds better in 1st person.)
The power to the door was pneumatic though (Score:3, Informative)
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http://imdb.com/title/tt0096754/ [imdb.com]
Re:Titanium: not recommended for rings (Score:4, Insightful)
An abysmal movie (The Abyss) that actually got some physics right but certainly not that bit.
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http://boonerings.com/faq.htm#4 [boonerings.com]
Tungsten carbide rings are difficult to cut, but they can safely be cracked with vise grips:
http://www.trewtungsten.com/remove.php [trewtungsten.com]
Give the OP some credit here (Score:2)
So I have to grind it great! (Score:2)
I was honestly hoping for a less destructive testing method. On the other hand just for curiosity, I really would not buy titanium for the "bling" factor, only for its strength and weight. And where you need those, you
Pile of Dust (Score:2)
Direct comparison is enlightening (Score:2)
I have a large Seiko titanium wrist watch that I invested in a few years ago. To this day it's interesting to hand it to someone and see the look on their face when they take it. It's rather plain-looking and "feature-free" for something so frickin' expensive, but when they feel how light it is, they can hardly believe it. I must have very acidic sweat because I rot leather and canvas watch bands like crazy and metal bands actually corrode away on me. This is the first watch I've owned that has literall
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Works like a charm (Score:2, Funny)
Marketing BS (Score:2, Insightful)
They're capitalizing on the idea that titanium is high-tech and expensive. Which it is. But that's relative steel
and aluminum. Aluminum costs about $2,500 a (metric) ton. Titanium, on the order of $50,000/ton. Contrast that to gold, which'll cost you around $25,000,000/ton.
So titanium jewellery? I'll pass. In fact, I read an article where a metals wholesaler said that he didn't even bother to charge for the small amounts used for designer jewellery.
It's
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Since a pure gold jewelery would be both expensive and scratch up very easily, that leaves titanium for my wedding band and my watch. I wish I could find something a bit heavier though. Titanium jewelery is not very substantial feeling due to its l
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More significantly, I do need to wear glasses, and contacts don't agree with me. As was mentioned in another comment [slashdot.org], many people have bad reactions to even hypoallergenic frames. After going a month or two constantly coating my frames with clear nail polish to avoid the blistering rash I got everywhere
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I could probably run this without the cpu fan even on a hot day.
What kind of pansy want's Titanium? (Score:4, Funny)
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Damn right real men use Tungsten.
It reminded me of something that I had happen (Score:3, Interesting)
So what's next? platinum? (Score:4, Funny)
Theodore Gray is clueless. (Score:3, Informative)
Aluminum most certianly *DOES* burn. Though fairly difficult to ignite, aluminum burns ferociously and spectacularly and is notoriously difficult to extinguish, as the crew of the HMS Sheffield learned much to their dismay. The fuel of the Space Shuttle's solid rocket boosters is aluminum. And aluminum is the fuel component of thermite.
I think that the "scientific" opinion of anyone so clueless as to try to claim that aluminum won't burn should be discarded with the lowest grain of salt
cya
john
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Let's not assume stupidity where a simple misunderstanding is possible.
Hello! (Score:2)
Famous last words... (Score:2, Funny)
No dremel? (Score:3, Interesting)
Even bulk titanium metal is susceptible to fire, when it is heated to its melting point. A number of titanium fires occur during breaking down devices containing titanium parts with cutting torches.
When used in the production or handling of chlorine, care must be taken to use titanium only in locations where it will not be exposed to dry chlorine gas which can result in a titanium/chlorine fire. Care must be taken even when titanium is used in wet chlorine due to possible unexpected drying brought about by extreme weather conditions.
Titanium can catch fire when a fresh, non-oxidized surface gets in contact with liquid oxygen. Such surfaces can appear when the oxidized surface is struck with a hard object, or when a mechanical strain causes the emergence of a crack. This poses the possible limitation for its use in liquid oxygen systems, such as those found in the aerospace industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium [wikipedia.org]
Call me paranoid, but I think I'll stick to gold if I ever wear jewelry. But interesting to know if you're ever in a McGuyver type situation.
Re:color, texture, weight (Score:5, Informative)
Mods smoke crack (Score:2, Informative)
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Re:Mods smoke crack (Score:5, Funny)
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=Smidge=
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Wrong. Several I can think of. Here's a couple that I have personal experience with.
Bicycles. A Ti bike is a noticeably different ride than other materials.
Eyeglasses. Steel contains quite a bit of nickel. Many people are allergic to it, and get a rash when in constant contact with it. So, in eyeglasses, you have a choice between regular steel, Ti, or plastic. Guess which wins.
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So when we got back, I bought a couple pairs of glasses (one regular, one polarized) with titanium frames, or maybe it was some titanium alloy, I don't know. Unbelievably cool though
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I think the poster was refering to titanium graphics cards, laptops, mp3 players, speakers, credit cards, or whatever where titanium is more of a buzzword more than anything eles.
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Bought the (too expensive) Ti frames, and the condition went away almost immediately. Within days. Couple years later, tried another pair of steel ones. It started coming back. All Ti from then on.
And the Ti frames are significantly stronger/more flexible.
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Exactly. I don't currently own a Ti bike, but this summer that may change. Apparently, you know too many poseurs.
the nickel in stainless steel is too tightly bound to leach with perspiration.
Stainless steel may be different, but with the more common non-stainless steel my skin tells me otherwise.
For the record I doubt spectacle frame made from 316 would trigger any allergy, sounds more like salesmen praying on consumer ignorance in order
Re:wow (Score:4, Informative)