Unique Titanium Ring, Black Titanium..?

Q: Doesn't WildcatUK have some sort of black Ti? I don't know if it's pure or an alloy though, but it sure sounds familiar...Too bad it's summertime or I'd ask my chem professor...

A:I know not the specifics of why you can't do black titanium, I just know that you can't. I'm sure Barry or someone else will be along shortly to provide or more in depth explanation. To make black niobium you just heat it up red hot and then squelch it to create a firescale. I think there are ways to do it with Ti, but it's harder I suppose. An SR-71 jet is black and made of Ti, so it must be possible... Anodized aluminum is dyed. Anodized titanium is not. Titanium oxide will not take the dye. The colors are "interference" colors created because the thickness of the transparent oxide coating is some multiple of a wavelength of light of a certain color. This is the same reason antireflection coatings on camera lenses appear colored. BTW, if you heat titanium to red hot it will burn up! titanium nitride is a chemical compound, titanium with a nitride group attached to it. nitride is probably NO4, so i reckon the compound is Ti2(NO4)3. this could be wrong but you get the idea. please don't

slate me if it is cos i'm a physicist/mathematician not a chemist. titanium and niobium are reactive metals....they are colored through a process called anodizing. Essentially, they are treated w/ electricity in an electrolyte bath, and adjusting the megahertz on your power supply will change the color.... unfortunately, black is not in the anodizing color spectrum for either material.... However, black can be achieved by actually torching niobium. It essentially is burning the metal. and the black does not fade...a high polish is also in order to remove all the oxidization that has occured from the heat... at least that is what has been my expierence...