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I Forge Iron

Titanium forge liner?


Orangejoe

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 Titanium does not melt until a bit over 3000*f, is far more readily available these days than in the past, is inert and I imagine would conduct heat back to the work very well, if backed by say 2 inches fiber.

I can get 3" OD 1mm titanium tubing for around 80 bucks and that's for 24 inches. Is there any reason this wouldn't work on paper? I assume it would become too flexible close to it's melting point, but for a forge that you never took above say 2400 could it work? I know that the made propane flame temp is over the melting point, but Ti being metallic, I would think it would conduct and spread any localized high heat, say where the flame impingement occurs.

 

Maybe it's a silly thought, but can't hurt to ask!

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Are you planning on splitting the tubing into sheeting or using the tubes as is? Three inche OD 1 mm tubing doesn't leave much internal volume. You'd have to use a small burner I think.

Pnut

Edited by pnut
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You'll get appreciable oxidation at forge temps of 2,300+ F (~1,250 C).  It won't last forever unprotected*, **. 

*Note that how you control your forge atmosphere is going to significantly impact how long you get out of a Ti liner. A reducing atmosphere may provide a long life, whereas an oxidizing atmosphere would likely consume a 1mm liner relatively quickly at forge temperatures. 

**Now that I think about it, you will still have quite a lot of hot nitrogen in your forge no matter what.  Without spending much time looking for data, I found an autoignition temperature of somewhere between ~1,472F-2,200F / 800C-1,200C (certain variables can impact this, and I didn't look at the study configurations) for titanium metal in nitrogen gas.  In other words, your liner could burn in the nitrogen present in your forge without an additional ignition mechanism. I'm not saying that it necessarily WILL happen, but that it shouldn't be a surprise when it does. 

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Suspect it won't last due to oxidation.  I do know a guy who found some Inconel in his local scrap yard and lined his gas forge with it very successfully.  He felt the inconel was indispensable for his work preventing damaging his ceramic wool.  I do know he needed a little more to cover an area that he had not covered wit the original piece of inconel and found buying it new was incredibly expensive. 

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