In some of my jewelry descriptions , as in the collections
you find these words … titanium, than probably sounds familiar to you, but also “niobium ” and “anoditzed ” … What do they mean?
In the workshop, I use precious metals as silver and gold, and others that are not, but which by its nature, I like to include in my jewelry. I talk about TITANIUM (Ti ) and NIOBIUM (Nb) .
Both metals have similar characteristics :
– They are lightweight, so they they allow me to create jewelry with a very low weight.
– Their melting points are very high, making it impossible to work them using traditional soldering techniques. They have to be united among themselves or with other metals using alternative techniques, such as laser welding or riveting .
– With a proper treatment, they can be colored. This is ANODIZING: it is to apply electric current or heat for the metal to oxidize and so the color appears. According to the applied current, different shades are obtained. The color is permanent, although it must be carefully treaded to avoid scratching it with sharp objects, for example! To clean these surfaces, the best thing to do is to use a soft dry cloth to remove, especially in the case of titanium, fingerprints that may remain on them.
And…why using both metals if they are so similar? I get a wider range of colors out of niobium.
See you soon!
