Titanium Sheet Metal

Start with the job, not the grade number.

Titanium grades are not a simple ladder from “basic” to “best.” Grade 2, Grade 5, Grade 7, and Grade 23 solve different problems.

A useful selection sequence begins with environment, strength, forming severity, temperature, joining, certification, and availability. If corrosion resistance and formed sheet geometry drive the job, Grade 2 is usually the right first question. If strength-to-weight drives it, start with Grade 5—but design the bends and process around the alloy instead of treating it like stainless steel.

Nine grades cover the decisions most sheet-metal teams actually face.

Grades 1–4 are commercially pure titanium. Grades 5, 7, 9, 12, and 23 use alloying or tighter interstitial limits to change strength, corrosion behavior, or toughness.

The most important fork in the road.

Grade 2 wins when the part must form, weld, and resist corrosion economically. Grade 5 wins when the part must carry more load per pound.

*Representative minimum values for commonly specified annealed ASTM B265 sheet. Thickness, condition, specification revision, and direction can change requirements. Use the current purchased standard and certified mill test report for design acceptance.

“Titanium Grade 5 sheet” is not a complete purchase description.

The U.S. specification establishes product form, chemistry, mechanical properties, condition, tolerances, tests, and documentation. Pick it before the material is ordered.

A useful industrial drawing callout

For aerospace, medical, nuclear, defense, or pressure work, approved supplier status, DFARS or domestic-source clauses, country of melt, lot segregation, NDT, special-process approvals, and records retention can be separate contractual requirements. Do not infer them from the alloy name.

Titanium cuts well when heat, atmosphere, and downstream edge use are controlled.

A clean-looking contour is not the only acceptance criterion. The edge may become a weld joint, fatigue surface, medical surface, or merely a cosmetic perimeter—and those are different jobs.

Low modulus means high springback. Strength makes it louder.

Titanium’s elastic modulus is roughly half that of steel, so it springs back substantially after forming. Grade 5 adds high yield strength and much lower cold-forming latitude.

Conservative room-temperature reference

T is material thickness. Values above are the room-temperature reference reproduced in TIMET’s design and fabrication handbook for annealed sheet/plate associated with ASTM B265. TIMET also notes that achievable shop minima may be about half the specification figure under suitable conditions. Treat neither statement as a tooling guarantee: test the purchased heat, thickness, rolling direction, die opening, punch radius, bend angle, and surface condition.

Warm and hot forming

Elevated temperature improves ductility and reduces springback. TIMET identifies roughly 400–600°F (204–316°C) as a useful warm-forming range for unalloyed grades and Grade 12. Its Grade 5 data show progressively smaller bend radii as temperature rises, with 1200°F (649°C) eliminating much of the springback in the cited condition. That does not make field heating acceptable: temperature uniformity, dwell, tooling, atmosphere, oxidation, scale removal, heat treatment, and property verification require a controlled procedure.

A titanium weld is only as good as its atmosphere.

Molten titanium and the hot heat-affected zone absorb oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. Cleanliness and complete inert shielding are structural requirements, not cosmetic preferences.

Weld color is a screening clue

A bright silver bead generally indicates effective shielding when preparation and procedure were correct. Straw and blue colors indicate increasing surface oxidation; gray, chalky, or white deposits signal severe contamination. Acceptance cannot be reduced to a universal color chart—critical work follows the drawing, code, procedure qualification, hardness/NDT requirements, and customer standard.

Mechanical fastening and dissimilar joints

Bolts and rivets avoid fusion contamination but introduce bearing, fretting, preload, isolation, and galvanic questions. Titanium is electrically noble in many wet couples; it can accelerate corrosion of aluminum or carbon steel joined to it. Use compatible fasteners, nonconductive isolation where appropriate, sealed interfaces, drainage, and a corrosion review for the actual electrolyte.

The oxide film is the feature. Preserve it.

Titanium’s thin, adherent oxide reforms in oxygen-bearing environments and drives its corrosion resistance. Fabrication should avoid conditions that damage the surface or trap an environment the selected grade cannot tolerate.

Titanium performs exceptionally in seawater and many oxidizing environments, but “corrosion-proof” is not an engineering property. Grade selection must consider concentration, temperature, pH, oxidizing potential, crevices, deposits, flow, galvanic contact, residual stress, and upset conditions. Grade 7 and Grade 12 exist because Grade 2 is not universal.

Give the fabricator enough information to protect the material pedigree and the part.

A titanium RFQ should define the raw material, the condition at every critical edge and bend, and the records expected at delivery.

Solid sheet is stable. Fine titanium is a different hazard class.

Grinding dust, dry chips, fines, and hot particles can burn intensely or create an explosion hazard when dispersed. Design the process around combustible-metal controls.

OSHA specifically documents fatal titanium dust incidents and treats combustible dust as a fire and explosion hazard. Dust-producing operations need a process-specific hazard analysis, compatible collection equipment, housekeeping, bonding/grounding where applicable, separation from incompatible metal dusts, ignition control, and an emergency plan based on the current SDS, equipment instructions, and applicable fire code.

Laser and thermal cutting also require fume extraction and eye, skin, and fire protection appropriate to the equipment. Chemical pickling adds severe acid exposure and environmental controls. Fabrication guidance never replaces the shop’s written safety program.

Fast answers before the RFQ goes out.

This guide is educational and does not provide design allowables, a welding procedure, a medical-device qualification, or a safety plan. Verify the current governing code/specification, mill certification, customer requirements, and process qualification for the actual part.