Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Kurt Maybe you should inform your "LUG metallurgist" that there never has been any titanium bodied Leicas ever sold. I have only owned one titanium bodied camera, a Nikon F2T, though I understand that there was another Japanese SLR with a real Ti body made. (I can just see all all you LUGers cutting out pieces from the bottoms of their Ti Leicas and sending them in for analysis!) :-) Jerry khmiska wrote: > This is a forwarded message > From: Marvin Zhou <marvinlzhou@yahoo.com> > To: khmiska <khmiska@umich.edu> > Date: Friday, July 25, 2003, 10:57:25 AM > Subject: LUG metallurgist > > ===8<==============Original message text=============== > All the questions can be easily answered if there is > someone willing to cut off a tiny piece from the > bottom of his Ti Leica so I can take a look at the > microstructure and do some simple composition > analysis. > > You are right due to all kinds of problems Ti is hard > to electroplate reliably. Frankly pure Ti is gray and > the Ti Leica look yellowish so at least I can safely > say that the surface is NOT pure Ti. > > I've seen TiN and TiOx based jewlry from China and > they have all kinds of colors depending on their > thickness so the sandy yellowish tint on the Ti Leica > is entirely possible using these coatings on the > surface(TiN is pretty hard too) on another substrate > material (Aluminum, for example). > > Evaporation techniques are certianly doable. But it's > costly (vacuum) and it will be hard to avoid shadow > effects. This can't be ruled out of course, as Ti > Leica is very expensive. > > Then there are the traditional forming techniques, > stamping, casting, etc, which are quite difficult but > doable for Ti-based alloys. And don't forget powder > metallurgy. The fine grained, sandy surface of the Ti > Leica reminds me of a hydrostatically compressed metal > powder piece prior to any finishing. Oxidation is > always a big enemy for Ti, but an inert processing > environment is not that hard to get and maintain. > > Basically I can't definitively rule out anything > unless taking a look at the microstructure. My guess > is that Leica is not that low yet to *not* use any Ti > alloys when making Ti Leica. I don't see any real > advantage in using Ti alloys. Yes it will be stronger > yet light but we are not talking about life-saving > titanium armor or submarines or wing spars. > > I've seen credit card companies marketing Titanium > cards as one level above Platimum cards. They must > have done some marketing research and found that > somehow the general populace associates titanium as > something even more precious or "noble". > > Later, > L. > > > > --- khmiska <khmiska@umich.edu> wrote: > > Mr. Zhou, > > Thank you for responding. > > > > There has been much back and forth on the LUG about > > the so-called > > titanium Leica M6. Some claim it is titanium plated. > > Some say it's > > something akin to anodizing and some say it actually > > titanium. Quite > > frankly, I don't believe any of these. > > > > I was an editor at the long-defunct Materials > > Engineering magazine and > > have enough metallurgical knowledge so that, again, > > I don't belive any > > of these statements. > > > > You can't electroplate out titanium, right? > > > > YOu can't use the anodizing process, right? > > > > Yes, you could, theoretically, machine the camera > > from titanium or a > > titanium alloy but it would be a very, very > > expensive process in such > > small quantities, what with special cutting tools > > and all. > > > > Now, I believe you could coat the camera with > > elemental titanium using > > PVD or CVD, right? Again, aren't those very costly > > processes used > > primarily for electronic components? > > > > So, in your opinion, how did Leica make the Ti Leica > > M6 and other than > > appearance, what advantage, if any, is there to > > this? I can't think of > > any other than that Leica is laughing all the way to > > the bank. > > > > Cordially > > > > Kurt Miska > > -- > > Kurt H. Miska > > GERMAN BUSINESS TRANSLATIONS > > Ann Arbor, Michigan > > khmiska@umich.edu > > http://www-personal.umich.edu/~khmiska/ > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software > http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com > > ===8<===========End of original message text=========== > > Gentlemen, > Dr. Zhou is a PhD metallurgist and the attached msg is in response to > my questions about the so-called titanium Leica. He has given me > permission to forward the msg but he requests that we excuse his > English. > Cordially > Kurt > > -- > Kurt H. Miska > GERMAN BUSINESS TRANSLATIONS > Ann Arbor,Michigan > khmiska@umich.edu > http://www-personal.umich.edu/~khmiska/ > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html