What Color is Titanium: Tudo o que precisa de saber
Many people ask the same question: What color is titanium? It’s an important detail, especially when you’re using titanium for parts, tools, or custom finishes. The color can tell you a lot about how the metal was made or treated.
In this post, you’ll learn what titanium looks like in its natural state, how its color can change over time, and how it can be turned into different colors using anodizing. This will help you work with titanium for your application.
O que é o titânio?
Titânio is a metal known for its high strength-to-weight ratio. It’s often used in aerospace, medical parts, and high-performance components. What makes titanium unique is that it’s tough like steel but much lighter. It’s also non-magnetic and corrosion-resistant.
Why Color Matters in Titanium?
Titanium’s color isn’t just for looks, though it does look great. The bright colors can be useful too, like helping you tell medical tools apart or making jewelry and other products look nicer.
These colors don’t wear off easily because they’re not just painted on; they’re part of the metal itself.
The Natural Color of Titanium
Titanium is naturally a silvery-gray metal. It looks a little darker than aluminum but not as dark as stainless steel. This is the color you’ll see if the titanium hasn’t been treated or changed in any way.
It also has a slight shine, so it looks a bit polished even without any extra work.
How Alloying Elements Affect Titanium’s Color?
When you add other metals to titanium, it changes how the surface reacts during processes like anodizing or heating, which affects its color. For example, adding vanadium can make the colors deeper and more vibrant, while alumínio might make them brighter but limit the range of colors you can get.
These added metals influence the thickness and structure of the oxide layer that forms on the surface, which in turn affects how light reflects and refracts, creating different colors. So, depending on the metals you combine with titanium, you can get a variety of colors, but some combinations might limit your options.
Does Titanium Change Color Over Time?
In its natural form, titanium doesn’t rust or tarnish like some other metals, so the color stays the same. If it’s anodized (colored with a special process), the color can change if the surface gets scratched or exposed to certain conditions.
But most of the time, the colors stay strong and last a long time. That’s one reason why people like using titanium.
The Effects of Oxidation
When titanium is exposed to air, something interesting happens as it forms a super thin layer on its surface called titanium dioxide. This layer can change the color of the metal, depending on how thick it gets. This effect is called interference coloring.
You might see different colors like blue, purple, or gold. That’s because light hits the layer in different ways depending on its thickness. For example:
Blue or Purple: If the layer is thin, you’ll see blue or purple. This is common in titanium jewelry and watches.
Gold or Bronze: If the layer gets thicker, the metal can look gold or bronze. This usually happens when titanium is heated.
So, the colors come from how the light reacts with the surface, not from paint or coatings.
Anodizing Titanium
To get bright colors on purpose, you use a process called anodização. When you anodize titanium, you put it in a special liquid and run electricity through it. This makes the titanium’s surface grow a thin layer called titanium dioxide.
The thickness of this layer changes the color you see. The colors aren’t paint or a coating; they come from how light bounces off that thin layer.
Available Colors for Anodized Titanium
You can get different colors on anodized titanium, like bronze, blue, yellow, pink/purple (magenta), teal (cyan), and green. The color you see depends on how thick the oxidized layer on the titanium’s surface is. So, by changing the thickness, you can get many different colors.
Types of Anodization Processes for Titanium
There are three main types of anodizing titanium, and these are the following:
Type I: This is a special process that uses high heat and electricity. It is not used very often.
Type II: This makes the titanium surface gray. It also makes the titanium smoother and harder to wear out. You do this by putting the titanium in a special liquid and running electricity through it. The oxide layer forms but the size of the titanium piece doesn’t change.
Type III: This type adds color to the titanium. You can get many colors like bronze, blue, and green. It works by making a layer on the surface that changes how light reflects, which makes the colors you see.
Coloring Process of Type III Anodized Titanium
Here are the simple steps you follow to color titanium with Type III anodizing:
- Clean the titanium part. Use an alkaline cleaner to remove oils and dirt like fingerprints. These would stop the anodizing from working well.
- Rinse off the cleaner. Watch the water run off in sheets, not drops. If it beads up, there is still oil on the surface.
- Do a hot rinse. This helps the water dry faster before the next step.
- Clean the surface with acid. This removes the old oxide layer that forms from air exposure, so the new color will be even.
- Rinse off the acid with cold water.
- Use an alkaline solution to cancel out any leftover acid.
- Rinse off the alkaline solution.
- Now, anodize the titanium. Put it in an electrolytic solution and apply electricity. This makes a new oxide layer with the right thickness for color.
- Take the titanium out and rinse off any leftover solution.
- Finish with a hot rinse to dry the piece and make sure no solution is left behind.
What Color is Titanium Dioxide?
Titanium dioxide is a bright white powder commonly used as a pigment in paints, coatings, and sunscreens because of its strong opacity and brightness. It’s also very stable and non-toxic, which makes it useful in many products to provide a clean, white color.
Does Titanium Rust or Turn Green?
No, pure titanium does not rust or turn green like iron. It resists corrosion and keeps looking good for a long time.
Conclusão
In short, titanium is naturally a silvery-grey metal. But when it goes through processes like anodizing or heating, it can show many colors like a rainbow. The color you see comes from how the metal reacts to light and these treatments.
If you want strong, long-lasting metal parts that look great and resist rust, DEK can help you work with titanium and other metals easily. Give us a try and see the difference for yourself.
