Letter 41079

Etching titanium [Florida] 

June 9, 2006

We are making very small titanium parts for the consumer industry. We are investment casting various titanium and zirconium alloys. We want to try etching with concentrations of pure Nitric and water rather than mess with Hydroflouric.

These are not aerospace applications although some are medical. Can I do this?

Scott Jackson
- Fort Myers, Florida

I can surely be wrong, but I doubt if any concentration of nitric will etch Ti. You do not have to use HF acid which is nasty!It does go froom being an 800 pound tiger to a wild pussy cat with lowering %. The safer option is to replace the HF acid with ammonium bi flouride which is a white crystal. The resulting nitric- ammonium bi flouride solution is not much worse than the nitric alone. It does require proper training and safety equipment. You should also talk to your local hospital or emergency services so they can carry the correct burn materials. If they look at you like an idiot, tell them to look up the treatment for HF acid burns.

James Watts
- FL

Try a mixture of 5% sodium hydroxide and 5% hydrogen peroxide for etching titanium. It is a fairly slow process, requiring possibly an hour or longer, depending on how deep you need to etch.

Jeffrey Holmes, CEF - Spartanburg, SC, USA

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