Titanium mechanical surface preparation

Titanium is widely used in aerospace applications that require high strength-to-weight ratios at elevated temperatures. As a result, a number of different prebonding surface preparation processes have been developed for titanium. These generally follow the same sequence as for steel and other major industrial metal substrates degrease, acid-etch or alkaline-clean, rinse and dry, chemical surface treatment, rinse and dry, and finally prime or bond. Mechanical abrasion is generally not recommended for titanium surfaces. 

While it is possible to bond to a freshly abraded or cleaned metal surface, chemical treatments are preferred for rendering the metal surface inactive to corrosion over time. For low carbon steel, phosphatising is the recommended pre-bond surface preparation treatment. Stainless steel should be passivated or acid etched, while titanium is usually treated with a hydrofluoric acid pickle. Almninium or magnesium are best treated with a chromate conversion coating. Zinc and cadmium are generally prepared mechanically but a phosphate or chromic acid treatment may be used. Brass and copper may be treated with an ammonium persulphate etch or an acid-ferric chloride etch. 

H. M. Clearfield joined Martin Marietta Laboratories in January, 1985. Since then, he has primarily investigated surface and interfacial phenomena in adhesive bonding, including surface preparation of titanium alloys for structural applications at high service temperatures, mechanisms of bond failures that occur at high temperatures, and bonding of the thermal protection system to the space shuttle external tank. Additionally, he has investigated dopant depth distributions in ion-implanted and laser-annealed silicon. Dr, Clearfield is supervisor of surface analysis facilities at Martin Marietta Laboratories. Recently, Dr. Clearfield joined IBM s T. J. Watson Research Center. 

Mechanism The understanding of mechanisms in catalytic reactions is sometimes crucial for the creative development of new applications. In a first approach, the main interest was to develop high surface area titanium nitride as a material for catalytic applications and, therefore, evaluation of catalysts prepared under different conditions was performed. 

Metal ion modified polyimide films have been prepared to obtain materials having mechanical, electrical, optical, adhesive, and surface chemical properties different from nonmodified polyimide films. For example, the tensile modulus of metal ion modified polyimide films was increased (both at room temperature and 200 0 whereas elongation was reduced compared with the nonmodif ied polyimide (i). Although certain polyimides are )cnown to be excellent adhesives 2) lap shear strength (between titanium adherends) at elevated temperature (275 0 was increased by incorporation of tris(acetylacetonato)aluminum(III) (2). Highly conductive, reflective polyimide films containing a palladium metal surface were prepared and characterized ( ). The thermal stability of these films was reduced about 200 C, but they were useful as novel metal-filled electrodes ( ). 

In the field of metallic powder applications, a method of plasma spray coating suitable for biomedical materials has been developed using titanium and calcium phosphate composite powder. By means of the mechanical shock process, the appropriate composite powder was prepared, and plasma sprayed on Ti substrate under a low-pressure argon atmosphere. A porous Ti coating layer was obtained in which the surface and the inside of the pores were covered thinly with hydroxyapatite. This surface coating is expected to show excellent bone ingrowth and fixation with bone (21). 

---