Tooling for Titanium

Titanium tooling is different from tooling for most other metals. It has to resist higher heat, deal with increased abrasion, produce precise results and work quickly. This demands a very specialised type of tool. Find out the best tooling for your titanium machining using our heating, tooling, speeds and feeds and carbide sections below.

Heat Dispersion

Dispersing heat is incredibly important to any good titanium tooling. As the tool moves through titanium, the friction generates a massive amount of heat. As titanium is a poor heat conductor, all of that heat builds up in the edge of the tool. This can soften the edge and cause plastic deformation. It can also cause the tool to ignite the titanium. The best way to protect your tooling against heating issues is to use coated carbide tools specifically designed to work with titanium. To learn more about coatings, visit our coatings page.

The other method used for controlling heat is coolant. If you are interested in learning more about this, please visit our coolants page.

Types of Tooling

There are a number of different types of tooling for working with titanium. These run from end mills to plane milling cutters. These all have different uses, strengths and weaknesses. If you are interested in learning more about the different milling cutters visit our cutters page. There are also a number of materials used to make machining tools. You can learn about these on our pick the right tool page.

Speeds and Feeds

Titanium machining requires different tooling speeds and material feed rates than other metals. Often people who are accustomed to machining steel will set their speeds too high and their feed too low, which can cause premature tool wear or destruction. If you are interested in learning more about the correct speeds and feeds to use when machining titanium, visit our speeds and feeds page.

Carbide Cutting Tools

Carbide is often the tool material of choice for machining titanium. It is incredibly hard and handles heat well. This makes it the favourite for most CNC machining operations. There are however times when high speed steel or other types of tooling may be more fitting. To learn which applications are best for carbide tooling, please visit our carbide cutting tools page.