Hi , I have always been fascinated and mesmerized by the succession of colors of the titanium of my NV showerhead. It seems to me that the colors follow each other in a certain order: bronze, rust, purple, electric blue. It is probably my hallucination as I read that each color comes only with a certain voltage, as explained here
http://www.torontocycles.com/Titanium_Anodizing.html
Can anyone tell me more about our NewVape (now Cannabis Hardware of course) products and their color change?
The effect that you see when you heat up titanium and some other metals is not really electrolytic anodizing, like with voltage in a tank.
It is referred to as bluing, or color anodizing. It is oxides in a layer but it occurs by different means. As you raise the temperature, over time a thicker oxide layer is formed, affecting color.
You can look up the color/temperature charts for the process on Images.
Oxidization resistance should be adequate on titanium in the temperature ranges that people vape with on these, so we won't see oxide scale growth or possible accelerated corrosion and depletion of the heat source like you might with metal alloy heaters and coils that are run at higher temperatures.
It is cool to look at! I noticed if you bring it outdoors it looks way better than in some artificial light. And as somebody mentioned here it can start to look even better in where the heater coil sits, when you screw it open again.
I first saw titanium bluing being a thing with motorcycle exhausts and owners used to watch the color progress after each ride.
It was interesting to see where the most heat would occur on the exhaust, and it exaggerated what a fast rider was doing with a powerful engine on some bikes, besides the satin blue and rainbow tones looking shit cool. (Same in Formula 1 and other racing engines)
It occurs on chromed and stainless steel too, and can be seen when you drill or cut steel at high speeds.
It doesn't occur on aluminum, that needs to be anodized electrolytically.
I also see now it is used as a finish on guns.
And I once saw a product that removes bluing, it's used on exhausts and to remove the colored oxide layers from welding and other processes.
We are lucky in this instance that it is the temperatures that suit extraction are where the nice colors come out, or maybe that was part of the design!?