Niobium and Titanium are the most commonly used of a family of elements
known as Reactive Metals. Reactive Metals oxidize into rainbow colors when
heated or when subjected to electrical current in an electrolyte. The oxide,
about the thickness of a lightwave, both reflects and refracts (bends) light,
producing an optical effect known as interference color. Interference colors
are the colors you see in a soap bubble or an oil slick. Colors change as the
thickness of the oxide changes. No pigments or dyes are used.
The interference color oxide is thinnest on the left of the rainbow stripe
above and thickest on the right. I can't name all the colors but they include:
bronze, deep navy blue, cobalt blue, sky blue, light steel blue, pink, fuscia,
magenta, deep midnight blue, teal, green, yellow-green, and gold.
Heating niobium to a high temperature will produce a hard, dense black oxide
which we often polish, carve and then anodize again.
known as Reactive Metals. Reactive Metals oxidize into rainbow colors when
heated or when subjected to electrical current in an electrolyte. The oxide,
about the thickness of a lightwave, both reflects and refracts (bends) light,
producing an optical effect known as interference color. Interference colors
are the colors you see in a soap bubble or an oil slick. Colors change as the
thickness of the oxide changes. No pigments or dyes are used.
The interference color oxide is thinnest on the left of the rainbow stripe
above and thickest on the right. I can't name all the colors but they include:
bronze, deep navy blue, cobalt blue, sky blue, light steel blue, pink, fuscia,
magenta, deep midnight blue, teal, green, yellow-green, and gold.
Heating niobium to a high temperature will produce a hard, dense black oxide
which we often polish, carve and then anodize again.
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