Research On The Cold Working Properties Of Titanium
Aug 13, 2025
Titanium tubes are made of industrially pure titanium, grade TA2. According to the GB/T3624-2010 standard, the allowable outer diameter deviation of the tube is ±0.65mm, and the allowable wall thickness deviation does not exceed ±12.5% of the nominal wall thickness. The inner and outer surfaces of the tube should be clean, free of visible defects such as cracks, folds, peeling, and pinholes. Cold-bending titanium tubes using CNC tube bending machines offers high product quality and high processing efficiency. Multiple bends can be completed in a single operation, reducing the workload of subsequent assembly and welding, making it suitable for large-scale production. The key to production is selecting appropriate process parameters (including bending speed, sequence, and springback settings) based on the mechanical properties of the material and the processing capabilities of the equipment to ensure the production of qualified products.
Titanium rods are widely used in chemical equipment due to their light weight, high strength, and excellent corrosion resistance to media such as alkalis, chlorides, organic chlorine compounds, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. Titanium electrodes are used to electrolytically deposit and refine metals such as copper, gold, nickel, manganese, and manganese dioxide from sulfide-containing sulfuric acid solutions. Titanium's excellent corrosion resistance and the ability of its oxide film to act as a good separator are key factors in its application in the electrolytic industry. In the electrolytic production of manganese dioxide, due to the highly corrosive electrolyte, titanium's corrosion resistance can be exploited to create heaters. This article describes the structure of titanium heaters, the shortcomings of hot-bending titanium tubes, and the working principle and process of using CNC tube bending machines to produce titanium tubes.
Due to titanium's poor cold working properties, there is no research in domestic or international literature on the use of CNC tube bending machines for titanium tubes. In a recent batch of titanium heaters, to improve product quality and to experiment with CNC tube bending, we collaborated with a professional tube bending manufacturer to cold-form titanium tubes using CNC tube bending machines.
The titanium heaters are primarily constructed from 60mm x 3mm titanium seamless tubes, with a design pressure of 0.4 MPa and a design temperature of 200°C. The heater is placed in an electrolytic cell filled with electrolyte. During operation, high-temperature steam is introduced into the titanium tube to heat the electrolyte. The process for producing titanium tube bends using the hot-bending method is as follows: the titanium tube is filled with fine sand and compacted. The tube is then mounted on a simple bending die and the portion to be bent is heated with an oxygen torch to bend the tube. The bent tube is then cut into 90 pieces and butt-welded to the straight tube.
The main disadvantages of titanium bends produced using the hot-bending method include: large tube ovality (minimum 4mm), thickness reduction (maximum reduction occurs at the outer arc, exceeding 1mm); wrinkling of the inner wall due to pressure; poor dimensional and shape consistency, requiring manual correction during subsequent assembly; low process efficiency, and bending the titanium tube entirely dependent on the operator's experience and technical proficiency. Furthermore, since the titanium tube is heated during processing, poor temperature control can easily lead to oxidation, thereby reducing the corrosion resistance of the equipment.
The company boasts leading domestic titanium processing production lines, including:
German-imported precision titanium tube production line (annual production capacity: 30,000 tons);
Japanese-technology titanium foil rolling line (thinnest to 6μm);
Fully automated titanium rod continuous extrusion line;
Intelligent titanium plate and strip finishing mill;
The MES system enables digital control and management of the entire production process, achieving product dimensional accuracy of ±0.01μm.
