Titanium is one of the most commonly-used metals today. It is utilized in many different applications, including jewelry-making. Because of its strength, durability, and versatility, a lot of jewelry-makers prefer it to other types of material.
To make jewelry pieces, such as rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings, titanium has to undergo a series of processes.
Annealing
The first step in making titanium jewelry is annealing. In this process, titanium is treated with heat so as to enhance its ductility, refine its structure, relieve its internal stresses, better its cold working attributes, and make the material more workable.
Annealing is typically done in an industrial shop, with a large oven, or a gas fired conveyor or car-bottom furnace.
Soldering
To join together two or more pieces of small titanium, they need to be soldered. There are three kinds of soldering: silver soldering, brazing, and soft soldering. When soldering, the parts can be bound to each other by using a soldering iron and a solder.
Forming
When forming, the titanium metal is shaped and fashioned through mechanical deformation, without removing or adding anything to the material. Therefore, the mass of the original titanium metal stays the same. The types of forming processes are tensile forming, compressive forming, bending, and shearing.
Drilling and/or cutting
To successfully drill and/or cut titanium, special types of tools have to be utilized. Using regular saws or drills might not be able to do the job, and these tools might only end up destroyed or damaged. It is advisable to use a significant amount of lubricant to avoid heat buildup when drilling and/or cutting titanium.
Machining
There are three primary machining processes: drilling, milling, and turning, and there are also miscellaneous ones that include planning, sawing, broaching, shaping, and boring. This process is implemented to cut the titanium metal to the desired final design and shape.
Polishing and finishing
Using a polishing wheel, brush, mops, cloth, abrasive, and other polishing equipment, impurities in the titanium material can be gotten rid of to leave a smooth and shiny finished product.