Titanium vs. Zirconium

I m normally all over titanium when I can get it but has anyone heard of zirconium and if so what seems to be more desirable in the flashlight world?
They both have similar properties but zirconium apparently is much harder to work with however it's hydrophobic where titanium in "some" cases can react to moisture.
Not really something one has to worry about with a flashlight but just sayin.
In addition zirconium seems to be very expensive whereas titanium isn't so bad price wise.

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The harder to work with, the least common, the more expensive will always be more desirable to many. I love zirc, i would say its my fav of the more "exotic" so to speak materials. More so than mokume etc. The oil slick in CG's top pic is my fav of the 3 OR offered recently.

Zirconium is heavier, can be flame-treated to a jet black and durable oxide, and costs more. That is about the extent of it. Titanium in normal conditions suitable for humans will last indefinitely

As others have mentioned, Zr can be treated to leave a dark oxidized surface finish. Although that finish is very hard, scratches will reveal the silvery metal beneath.

Scratches in silvery-gray Ti ... reveal the silvery-gray metal beneath.

I like stonewashed (aka pre-scratched) titanium

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Joking aside, it is a little bit analogous to DLC-coated titanium, which may be more familiar to some (and which I do also like)

Although the process and chemistry are totally different, the material properties and aesthetic effects are rather similar.

I plasma spray zirconium all the time at work. Never knew it existed as a solid. Cool

I agree with Archimedes. Zirc is pretty cool, and I'd love to be able to afford to buy more stuff in it just for the "exotic-ness" but I think you'd really have to know what you were looking at to tell right off what it was. Here is a zirconium carabiner I have with some pocketwashed Ti stuff clipped on it, side by side with DLC Ti pen and watch. The look and feel of the DLC Ti is almost indistinguishable from the zirc, and were the zirc not heat-treated to create the dark oxide finish, it would look much like the stonewashed titanium. I am a big fan of Ti, small time dabbler here in zirc, thanks to the price. If you can afford it it's pretty cool, but if not, I don't think you lose much going with the wondermetal titanium.

Various "steel" alloys are as "pretty" to many of us and certainly far more affordable than the exotics. Strength to weight considerations certainly don't present themselves as players when considering the applications in handheld illumination tools.

The simple allure of an exotic metal is more than sufficient to justify the material to those that "want one". To that end I can only say more power to you. [emoji41]

Myself, I enjoy the consideration that surface oxides of Titanium and Zirconium render them fundamentally inert. My one year old Titanium BOSS has been carried everyday and bears very few fine character marks. The "patina" is literally unchanged from when I first received it because it's Titanium! The freshly machined surface of Titanium reacts with atmospheric O2 very quickly. As a hobbyist I use Titanium in some of my metal working projects and I certainly respect what goes into machining these beauties.

The zirconium BOSS is stunning to say the least. My daily driver Titanium BOSS has met all my expectations of performance and more so the stability of the surface oxide.

Chemically Zirconium offers me nothing over Titanium... but the finishes Oveready offers in Zirconium... well it is simply stunning.

+1 on going with titanium instead. It's as hard as steel but half the weight, and it looks good raw which means it doesn't matter how much you scratch it. Zirconium is a novelty metal for flashlight purposes.

You can get a very similar finish for titanium with an AlTiN vapor coating. Polish the coating and it will turn a nice dark purple. As a bonus, the threaded parts will be much smoother as the underlying titanium will be protected from galling.

Very interesting points on all accounts and happy I asked the question. I definitely can not afford zirconium and I do have a love for Titanium... which I m having a project done with some battery tubes patterned off of a stock aluminum tube and added some major design changes. Finishing touch would be a nice DLC coating or similar but it seems difficult to find anyone who will or can do it.
Maybe one day I can find something to do with zirconium but I m quite happy to stay with titanium after all it was what they needed for the famous Blackbird!
🤔

As long as you're having a custom titanium light made, change the threading so it's larger than the original aluminum spec. That will give extra surface area to support the pressure of the battery spring(s) when tightening and loosening the head and tail of the light, so the titanium threads won't grind as much.

fyrstormer said:

As long as you're having a custom titanium light made, change the threading so it's larger than the original aluminum spec. That will give extra surface area to support the pressure of the battery spring(s) when tightening and loosening the head and tail of the light, so the titanium threads won't grind as much.

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Only problem with that is I m using the original factory head and tailcap plus having a cap made as well so I believe the threads need to be the same... But however I am able to change the body where the threads aren't present.
FWIW I had a brass tube made exactly to factory spec and it actually adds a nice touch, no galling which aluminum on aluminum the cap originally got stuck on the body, hence my thinking started. No problems with the aluminum on the brass. In addition I have full functionality of everything including the factory belt and Molle mount.

We use tons of Zirconium (literally) at work to make nuclear fuel assemblies and I never considered zirc as an "exotic" metal compared to Mokuti or Mokume Gane for examples.
The reason we use zinc is because of his properties of absorbing very little neutrons and being corrosion proof making it the perfect choice for the cladding encapsulating uranium.
One thing though, is that it is a very soft metal (at least the type of Zirc 4 alloy we use) and very prone to scratches and dents which for me, may not make it the best type of material for EDC.

Yeah, it's just a novelty thing for handheld-tool nuts like us. I think the increasing prevalence of titanium has diminished its elitism somewhat, which doesn't matter to me, but it does matter to some people.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I'm very curious for anyone who has worked with Zirconium, after its been heat-treated to a black oxide, to give some insight into what they use for various finishes.

What would be used to polish it to a shine or to obtain an oil-slick finish, for example?

I've heard that Zirconium is difficult to work with and in some compositions easily flammable. Personally I like the idea of that "special" metal but from research on it compared to Titanium I can't justify the price gouging. Titanium they are now saying reacts with moisture where zirconium doesn't. Titanium has widely been used in implants, medical uses, etc. It's beautiful in its natural state, very hard wearing, and easily revived/ polished. I just wish that there were more folks that can blacken titanium rather than having to buy zirconium because it's black already. PVD, DLC are among some of the best coatings I've come across.

usdiver said:

.... I just wish that there were more folks that can blacken titanium rather than having to buy zirconium because it's black already....

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Zirconium looks very much like Titanium in its natural state, and that is a ceramic-type finish you see applied to limit oxidation, I believe.

I have a Zirconium item that has been scratched, it appears "silvery white" and shiny underneath the surface.

easilyled said:

.... What would be used to polish it to a shine or to obtain an oil-slick finish, for example?

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I would suggest to be careful not to scratch the finish, as this may not be easily repairable.

archimedes said:

Zirconium looks very much like Titanium in its natural state, and that is a ceramic-type finish you see applied to limit oxidation, I believe.

I have a Zirconium item that has been scratched, it appears "silvery white" and shiny underneath the surface.



I would suggest to be careful not to scratch the finish, as this may not be easily repairable.

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I stand corrected. I had read somewhere that fire or heating by a torch can make it black again?
Still, I prefer titanium

I think it takes pretty high heat, 1000 °C maybe (?) but I'm not sure.

To get a glass black finish on Zirconium, you polish the crap out of the object, then clean it thoroughly of any grease or other contaminants, hang it on a clean wire, then heat it with a torch till it is nice and black.

Titanium can be blackened by heating, but it is much more involved and way more effort. There are also coating options like DLC and PVD