Titanium Stamping (Grade 2, Ti-6Al-4V)

Karl Gillihan

🚀 TITANIUM

Stamping Titanium: Springback, Galling, and Why Grade 2 Wins Cold

Titanium fights the press in ways few buyers expect: it springs back violently, it galls onto tooling almost on contact, and the high-strength alloys barely form cold at all. Commercially pure Grade 2 stamps reasonably at room temperature, but Ti-6Al-4V usually has to be hot-formed or formed at elevated temperature to avoid cracking. Knowing which grade tolerates the press, and which needs heat, is the whole game.

AS9100NADCAPISO 13485

Cold formability: Grade 2 vs the alloy grades

Grade 2 commercially pure titanium is the one grade that genuinely cold-stamps. It has around 20% elongation and a yield strength near 40 ksi, so it bends and shallow-draws at room temperature, forming the bulk of stamped titanium parts: heat-exchanger plates, medical trays, marine and chemical hardware, and brackets. Even so, it springs back far more than steel and wants generous bend radii, typically 2t-3t minimum. Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) is a different animal. With yield strength near 120 ksi and elongation around 10%, it has very limited cold formability and a high tendency to crack at bends. Stamping it cold is restricted to gentle forms; anything beyond that requires hot forming at 300-600°C (warm forming) or true hot forming above that, which is outside the scope of a conventional cold-stamping press. Grade 23 (Ti-6Al-4V ELI) is the extra-low-interstitial, higher-toughness version used for medical implants; it forms slightly better than standard Grade 5 but is still fundamentally a warm/hot-forming alloy. If a print calls for tight forms in Grade 5, the honest answer is hot forming, superplastic forming, or machining, not cold stamping.

01

Galling and tooling: titanium's signature problem

Titanium galls more aggressively than almost any commercial metal. It cold-welds to steel tooling under pressure, smearing material onto the die and scoring the part. Shops fight this with hard low-friction coatings (TiN, CrN, DLC), with heavy chlorinated or specialized titanium-forming lubricants, and sometimes with sacrificial polymer or paper interleaving between the blank and the die on draws. Die clearance is opened up relative to steel to reduce the rubbing contact that initiates galling. Tool maintenance is more frequent because once pickup starts on the die it transfers to every subsequent part. For aerospace and medical titanium, NADCAP-controlled processes govern the forming, lubrication, and cleaning steps, and any residual chlorinated lubricant must be fully removed before heat treatment or service, because chloride contamination on hot titanium causes stress-corrosion cracking.

02

Springback and contamination control

Titanium's modulus is about 16 million psi, roughly half that of steel, and combined with high yield strength this produces severe springback, often two to four times that of steel for a given bend. Cold-formed titanium bends can spring back 10-20+ degrees, so shops massively overbend, coin, or hot-set the part to hold an angle, and first-article tuning is essential. The other concern is gas pickup. Above roughly 500°C, titanium absorbs oxygen and nitrogen, forming a brittle 'alpha case' surface layer. Warm and hot forming therefore require inert atmosphere or coatings, and any alpha case formed must be chemically milled or pickled off afterward, since it embrittles the part. This contamination sensitivity is a major reason cold-formable Grade 2 is preferred wherever the geometry allows, and why hot-formed Grade 5 parts carry extra processing cost.

03

When stamping is the wrong call for titanium

For complex Grade 5 geometry, conventional stamping is usually the wrong process. The realistic alternatives are superplastic forming (SPF), where Ti-6Al-4V is formed slowly at around 900°C into deep, complex shapes, hot forming with heated dies, or CNC machining from plate. SPF and hot forming carry high tooling and cycle costs but achieve shapes cold stamping cannot. Where titanium stamping does make sense is high-volume, simpler Grade 2 parts: corrugated heat-exchanger plates, perforated panels, shallow medical and dental components, and flat blanks with bends. For those, cold stamping is fast and economical relative to machining away expensive titanium as chips. The decision hinges on grade and geometry: Grade 2 with mild forms, stamp it; Grade 5 with real depth or tight radii, hot-form, SPF, or machine it.

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends entirely on the grade. Grade 2 commercially pure titanium cold-stamps reasonably well at room temperature for bends and shallow draws, with around 20% elongation, though it requires generous bend radii of about 2t-3t and heavy springback compensation. Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V), with its much higher strength and roughly 10% elongation, has very limited cold formability and tends to crack at tight bends, so anything beyond gentle forming requires warm forming at 300-600°C or true hot forming at higher temperatures. Grade 23 (ELI) is a bit more ductile than standard Grade 5 but still favors warm or hot forming for real geometry. The practical rule: design stamped titanium parts in Grade 2 if you want cold forming, and plan for hot forming, superplastic forming, or machining if the part must be Grade 5 with significant draw depth or tight radii.

Titanium has a strong chemical affinity for the iron in steel tooling and a tendency to cold-weld under contact pressure, so it galls, smearing onto the die and scoring the part, more aggressively than almost any other commercial metal. Shops control it with hard, low-friction tool coatings such as TiN, CrN, or DLC, with heavy chlorinated or titanium-specific forming lubricants, with opened-up die clearances to reduce rubbing, and sometimes with sacrificial film or paper between the blank and the die on draws. Tooling is inspected and cleaned frequently because once pickup begins on the die it transfers to every following part. A critical caveat: chlorinated lubricants must be completely removed before any subsequent heating, because chloride residue on hot titanium causes stress-corrosion cracking. For aerospace and medical work this cleaning is a controlled, documented NADCAP step, not an afterthought.

Expect titanium stamping to run several times the cost of equivalent steel parts, driven mostly by raw material. Grade 2 sheet costs roughly 5-10x mild steel per pound, and Grade 5 and Grade 23 cost more still, with medical ELI grades carrying additional melt-certification premiums. On top of material, titanium accelerates tool wear through galling, needs special coated tooling and lubricants, and Grade 5 work often requires heated dies and post-form alpha-case removal, all of which add cost. Scrap is expensive because the skeleton web is costly titanium, so nesting efficiency matters more than with steel. For high-volume simple Grade 2 parts, stamping still beats machining away expensive titanium as chips. For low-volume or complex Grade 5 parts, the cost equation often favors machining or hot forming. Get a quote that itemizes material, tooling, and finishing separately so you can see where the cost sits.

Alpha case is a hard, brittle oxygen- and nitrogen-enriched surface layer that forms when titanium is heated above roughly 500°C in air. It matters because that brittle layer drastically reduces fatigue strength and ductility and can initiate cracks, which is unacceptable on structural aerospace or implant parts. For cold-stamped Grade 2 parts this is rarely an issue, since they never get hot. But warm- and hot-formed Grade 5 and Grade 23 parts can develop alpha case during forming or any subsequent heat treatment, so the process must either use inert atmosphere or protective coatings to prevent it, or the alpha case must be chemically milled or pickled off afterward to expose clean base metal. This contamination control is one of the main reasons buyers prefer cold-formable Grade 2 wherever the geometry allows, and it is a documented requirement in NADCAP-controlled titanium forming for aerospace and medical applications.

Last updated: July 2026

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