Still playing with Niobium

[delder]

Local gallery requested a few pieces that have a coastal theme. The colors are;green-100v,gold-57v, and brown- 15v.

 

[James Roettger]

Beautiful piece. Does niobium get more brilliant color than titanium?

 

[delder]

Yes, Niobium is much easier to anodize. No pre treatment with multi etch is necessary. In my opinion, the colors are more vibrant as well.

 

[Willem Parel]

Nice piece, thank you for showing and the information, must try it some day.

 

[GTJC460]

Do you paint a resist on to get the different colors? Could you explain the process more?

 

[delder]

I polish the entire piece(Niobium takes on a nice finish). Anodize the gold sky.Spray on two coats of clear acrylic sealer as a resist. I then cut and anodize the green palm fronds. Then cut and anodize the brown palm trunk. It's necessary to place a resist on the gold before anodizing the green. No need to protect the green when anodizing the brown because the voltage is lower.

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Looks great, nice colours too.

arnaud

 

[Beathard]

Ok. It looks nice enough to go on my bucket list of projects.

 

[GTJC460]

Thanks for explanation. It looks great!

I did some google searching and found a bunch of info on the process.

 

[Diacutter]

Can anyone recommend a supplier for Niobium?

 

[Beathard]

Can it be inlaid into a firearm and then colored. Would make a cool mallard or wood duck.

 

[delder]

http://www.reactivemetals.com/http___www.reactivemetals.com/Home.html

 

[delder]

I haven't tried inlay yet, but have thought about. The inlay phase is rather straight forward. The anodizing might be a little tricky. It would have to be done based on what I know now, which is with some sort of plating pen . The surrounding area would have to be protected from the electric current. I'm always of the mind that , if you can concieve it , you can do it . One thing to keep in miind though. The oxide that is produced on the surface of the Niobium is rather fragile. Items like bracelets and rings that get more banging around aren't a good option. Love to see how this evolves.

 

[James Roettger]

Inlaying and combining with other metals is difficult when anodizing. The current will only go to the metal with the lowest resistance which will most likely not be niobium or titanium. The odd metal would have to be perfectly masked off which really means the masking (such as varnish) would actually have to overlap the niobium or titanium thus spoiling any clean line between the two metals. I have tried this. If even a sliver of the odd metal is exposed the whole process is rendered useless. I was however able to electrify a fine sable paint brush and go around and spot shade the titanium. In any case you will not be able to get a perfect line between the metals when using a mask. If you don't mask the odd metal absolutely nothing happens when you try to anodize it. I ended up fire coloring my dual metal project and then spot coloring with the electric brush to an okay result.

 

[peteb]

Masking is NOT necessary. I am coloring niobium that has a thin layer of platinum bonded to it. The thickness of the niobium appears to be critical. In my .010 thick piece , achieving a thickness of less then .008 of niobium allows the electron flow to anodize. The color is thus protected as well.

 

[James Roettger]

peteb, would you be able to show us a photo of your platinum/niobium piece? I got zero results with combined metals even at very high voltage. At .008 inches thick it is still about .2mm thick which is close to the metal I tried it on.

 

[James Roettger]

Actually I did a little research and the electrical resistance of niobium is about as low as silver and just a little higher than platinum which could explain the result petab has achieved. I am definitely interested in the metal if it can be combined with other metals and anodized. Titanium however has fairly high resistance.

 

[peteb]

This photo demonstrates the concept of a thinner section of material being suitable for anodizing. the dog's collar is about .002 thinner then the surrounding metal. This color was not possible when I first engraved that section. It needed a flat graver and added depth then some brighter cuts with a diamond burr. Also my experiment with the electro-lite finds that purified water and oxyalic acid produces a clean color. Higher voltages will burn brush hair and felt tips with smushy results. View attachment 25573

 

[peteb]

Here is the photo of dogs.