Salvaged titanium

Jewelry Discussion
1

Anyone out there interested in making several similar rings from
salvaged surgical titanium? Please contact me. Thank you much

2

Anyone out there with any knowledge of whether Surgical grade
Titanium can be reworked into keepsakes rings? Anyone ever heard of
such a request? Need your input soon.

Thank you
M

3

Be very sure what alloy you’re dealing with. Titanium, even “surgical
grade” titanium, can cover a lot of territory and Ti alloys vary a
lot in workability.

RC (who hasn’t tried it)

4 
Anyone out there with any knowledge of whether Surgical grade
Titanium can be reworked into keepsakes rings? Anyone ever heard
of such a request? Need your input soon.

There are a number of different grades of Titanium on the market.
The term surgical grade is a mis-nomer. There are certified Implant
grade titaniums, and all of them call out for an ASTM spec.

Titanium is one of those metals that is very difficult to identify
without knowing its source (stainless is the same way), without
knowing what grade of titanium it is, working it is like shooting in
the dark. You just gotta try and see what happens.

In the be all end all, heat the titanium up to bend it is really the
only way to make it move with ease. Im also not talking a little
heat, im talking a whole lot of heat.

P@

5

Most surgical Ti. is Grade #5. It is 6% Aluminum, 4% Vanadium, a
Rockwell 36 when annealed. Hard and tough. Finger rings are cut from
bar stock, it must be mounted on a lathe. Hard to do with a hip
joint. You are probably looking for a machinist. Expect it to cost a
lot.

Bill
Reactive Metals Studio, Inc

6

Rick

Thanks for your interest & your response.

Think I will research with manufacturer what alloy? I thought alloy
was mixture of two metals [ titanium & ?], so workability would
depend on what it was mixed with, right? Want to try it? Wondering if
anyone out there has tried it? M

7

Mary, Grade 1 and 2 can be surgically certified. They are
commercially pure. The amount of oxygen, nitrogen and other elements
determine the working characteristics. Here we are talking about the
elements in parts per million. No titanium is 100% pure.

Grade #5, often called 6/4, is 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium. There
are dozens of other special purpose alloys.

The above 3 grades can be hot forged. At just over 1,600 F the
metals phase change and hot forge well. There is a lot of clean up
when finished.

Grade #1 is also cold forgeable, and work hardens slowly.

Bill
Reactive Metals Studio, Inc

8

Dear Mary,

alloys can be a combination of many metals, the nickel superalloys
used in jet engine turbines have up to 14 different metals in them.
The commonest alloys of titanium contain Titanium, aluminium and
vanadium. Pure Ti is actually quite hard to obtain as sheet, wire or
tube, it usually has about 10% of other metals added. Dont buy any Ti
from Russia, it contains a lot of iron and is practically useless.

Nick Royall