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titanium mold casting


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Hello,

I am at a hobby level, I designed my own BBQ smoke oven, which was a success on the 2nd try, I am currently working on making a new bigger one installing all kinds of new stuff. When it comes to metals side from blacksmith it is easy get wielding and installing things done for me. I plan for my future project to play with titanium, which has a melting point of 3000 F. So I am hoping you guys can help me here with your knowledge if you don't mind;

What are the elements that effects the forge temperature?

Does increasing the number of burners help in increasing the forge's max temperature?

Does the forge/furnace needs any heat resistant upgrading to operate at a temperature around 3000~3100 F?

What are the risks of operating at temperatures beyond 2750 F ?

Thank you very much for your time

Sami

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2 hours ago, v_dude said:

What are the elements that effects the forge temperature?

I've not played much with forging titanium.  What little I did was in a coal forge.  In my limited experience it has a very narrow forging temperature range, but within that range forges like butter.  I'm curious why you think you need to be able to get up to melting temperature to be able to forge it.  Per Wikipedia titanium forges at temperatures below that of carbon steel.

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Suggest you ask over on a forum dedicated more to casting for better information. 

Personally I have no experience with casting materials at those elevated temperatures, but I understand that getting the material molten is the least of your worries.  The mold making and actual molten material handling are a lot more critical (and dangerous).  You might also want to closely research any potential changes in composition during melting by exposure to atmosphere or byproducts the titanium might give off in molten form.  I don't have time to do that for you, though I'm pretty sure there is a good reason the hobby casters don't do it.

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Your other post has been removed as its the same as this post.   He didn't mean to repost in another section here, he meant  posting at a casting forum.  Ti is not for beginners and it will be burning long before it gets to its melting point.

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And Yes at those temperatures---don't forget the superheat needed for casting!  You will need refractories that are stable at those temperatures. Lower temp refractories will degrade very quickly it used at temps over their ratings.

"Does increasing the number of burners help in increasing the forge's max temperature?"   Yes, No or Maybe depending on a bunch of factors you didn't specify (Will a car with an eight cylinder engine go faster that one with a 6 cylinder engine?  Want to race   an old V8 '68 Station wagon against a Jaguar with a 6 cylinder engine?)

"What are the risks of operating at temperatures beyond 2750 F ?"  Maiming, death, the usual---working with molten metal is inherently more dangerous than working with hot solid metal---even if the hot solid metal is hundreds of degrees hotter than the molten metal. A drop of sweat falling into a mold while you are transporting it can result in life changing scars when you pour.  PPE is MANDATORY especially for the temps you are talking about.  

What do you need cast that you couldn't modify to be forged to shape?

(as mentioned Ti *burns* and so you will probably have to melt and pour using inert atmosphere cover.)

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Sorry, but after many years of deleting pages of quotes every day that are not needed, (yes that often) it gets tiresome to reread the same thing again and again, so  I just deleted the screen full of text you quoted,  not noticing your comments in there.  It is due to past experience of people making useless quoting so often.   Like the dog that shys away when it sees a shot gun even before it is fired.

I will attempt to recover it

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Actually my take on this is: If you have to ask these sort of questions; you are YEARS and Thousands of dollars away from being able to do this safely and well!  Becoming expert at melting and casting lower temp metals is a hard gate before going on to higher temp metals. Being expert at higher temp metals is a hard gate before working with reactive high temp metals. (And I would suggest experience with reactive lower temp metals like some magnesium alloys)

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