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-----Titanium anodizing for colorful kitchen cabinets
Quickstart:
If titanium components are immersed in a conductive solution, and made the anode in an electrical circuit, the titanium on the surface is converted to titanium oxide. The coating can be a hard, functional, wear resistant coating per specifications AMS 2487 or 2488 Type II ... or it can be a thin highly-decorative coating in various colors. We have numerous discussion threads on each of these two general types of anodizing of titanium.
The decorative coating material is actually transparent and colorless -- no dyes or pigments are involved. But when light hits the object, some reflects off the titanium oxide surface, while some penetrates the transparent coating and reflects off the substrate. The two halves of the reflected light travel slightly different distances, putting them out of phase by a partial wavelength, so they interfere -- amplifying & attenuating different wavelengths/colors. The perceived color is a direct result of the thickness of the anodizing; and if the thickness is variable, an iridescent oil-slick appearance results.
Hobbyist anodizing is done in trisodium phosphate, phosphoric acid, dilute sulphuric acid, or even Coca-Cola. A hazard is that high voltages (up to about 100V) may be used; so safety requires wearing insulating gloves, never touching anything with the power on, and using an isolated power supply.
It's also possible to apply a partial wavelength thickness of titanium oxide to objects with a PVD (physical vapor deposition) vacuum chamber rather than by anodizing, but that's for high volume items and not practical for custom jewelry.
RFQ: Hi,
I am looking to find someone in the UK who could help me create multi-coloured anodised thin titanium sheet to use on cupboard door fronts and draws for a kitchen.
Finding the sheet isn't too tricky but decorative anodising on a small scale doesn't appear to be widely practised.
Any steers, contacts, suggestions or not overly technical advice would be much appreciated,
Thanks in advance Chris
- London UK
August 1, 2024
Ed. note: This RFQ is outdated, but technical replies are welcome, and readers are encouraged to post their own RFQs. But no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?).
A. Hi.
Fixed colors like pink, blue, purple, or green are obtained by anodizing for a fixed amount of time at the appropriate voltage for that color. Rainbow hues are obtained by dipping the sheet such that various areas are exposed to varying times and/or voltages. I believe that most titanium anodizing is done on small items like jewelry and pocket knives, and that you may have a hard time finding a production facility for sheets.
If you are a homemaker wanting this for yourself, or an architect wanting it for a single kitchen, it is not high-tech, and a local artist could probably obtain tanks and get it going for you. However, if you are a cabinet manufacturer, I think you're probably going to need to set up your own production facility, or have one set up at a job shop for you.
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
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Q. Thanks Ted appreciate your input.
It is both for my own home project, and as such - as a trial for my commercial office interiors design and build business, to prove the concept.
I understand the anodised coat is fairly thin, and can be subject to finger prints - any suggestions as to what best to use as a clear projective coat?
Also the shinier the sheet you start out with the shinier the result?
Best thing to Polish titanium sheet prior?
Thanks Chris
- London
A. Hi Chris.
I am not certain that it can be coated with anything without destroying the color :-(
I would suggest anodizing a piece, or buying titanium knives or pieces of jewelry if easier, and trying various clear coats on them to see what they do to the colors before going any further. The problem is that the coloring is not a pigment of any sort, rather it's a partial wavelength thin-film interference coating...
The color occurs because of the very thin titanium oxide clear coating, and when you add another clear layer on top of it, it's certain that it won't work as well ... but whether it will work acceptably is hard to predict.
Yes, the shinier the surface before anodizing, the shinier after.
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
A. Probably it can be hardened in hot 2-5% sodium silicate solution (according to some patents that process can be used on anodized stainless steel -- I think that process must work on any color anodized metal). Hope it helps and good luck!
Budija Goran- Cerovski vrh Croatia
A. I think that PVD is much better option (you can buy some PVD colored cutlery for testing.
Excellent article on use of PVD for jewelry (1996):
https://www.santafesymposium.org/1996-santa-fe-symposium-papers/1996-physical-vapor-deposition-of-decorative-coatings-for-jewelry
Hope it helps and good luck!
- cerovski vrh Croatia
A. This type of surface color anodizing can be easily obtained by slowly submerging the titanium piece under electrical current into the anodizing tank.
Anna Berkovich
(ed. update July, 2025: sorry, Anna has retired)
Q. Hi all,
I plan to anodize 12x12" grade 5 titanium sheets to green for artwork and would like advice for setting up a one-man small shop for this.
I've experimented on a small scale with an inexpensive switch-mode power supply and small TSP-PF bath as seen in Reactive Metals tutorial for anodizing titanium/niobium ...
... and I'm facing seemingly every possible issue and have decided to invest in better equipment and learning from those who know much more than me.
So far, I've bought a TekPower 120v 3a linear supply (no more cheap switching supply) ⇨
and plan to anodize in a large plastic tote lined with stainless steel mesh as my cathode.
I have learned that workpiece holding can also be parasitic to the process, and have decided to anodize the plates one face at a time (face down into electrolyte), and keep my electrical contact on the face up (dry) side to circumvent this.
My biggest issue has been hazy/cloudy/faded colors, which I have now learned is most likely caused by local overheating leading to undesirable chemistry taking place at the surface (suboxide formation or electrolyte "burning"?). I plan on installing an aquarium pump to circulate electrolyte in the large container, but now I'm starting to think that might not be an electrically sound solution. Wouldn't the current also travel through the pumps seals into mains circuitry? Would the same electrical concerns apply to aquarium "chillers"?
Any help is appreciated with guiding me towards a solid small-scale anodizing setup for my artwork. ⇦ Answer?
Thank you
Artist - Dallas
November 12, 2025
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