Titanium wedding bands have become hugely appealing to men and women. They denote a new chic in wedding bands that ranges from the futuristic to the sassy. First know as menachite, titanium was renamed in reference to the giants of Greek mythology, the titans. Titanium is a great metal for a wedding bends because it is neutral to the human body and is often use in the medical industry to replace bones, heart valves and other parts of the human body. It is perfectly hypoallergenic and does not cause irritation or discoloration to the skin like many alloys of gold do. Titanium comes in different grades and those used for jewelry are the aircraft grade titanium alloys that are quite a bit stronger than basic steel and basic titanium. Its resistance to every day wear means that it won’t lose much detailing over time. It also will not bend or break like some other new metals.
Titanium is therefore one of the perfect metals for use as wedding bands. Mens titanium wedding bands have been popular because of the metal’s lightness and strength. It also comes in a huge variety of colors, finishes and textures and can be combined with other white metals for a two tone look that is still white. One of the combinations that has appealed to men’s sense of fashion for a long time is the combination of titanium and platinum. The combination of brushed steely gray titanium with the whiteness and heft of platinum makes a great mens wedding band. The fact that titanium comes in all shades of gray all the way to black makes for an infinite combination of looks with other metals like white gold, platinum and palladium.
Anodized titanium is titanium that has had a titanium oxide coating formed on parts of its surface to create color through refraction. What happens is when an electric current is passed through titanium this forms an oxide layer that gives the effect that there has been color applied to the surface of the titanium when it is basically a layer of titanium oxide whose thickness determines the wavelength of the light that gets reflected back to our eyes. So all colors of the rainbow can be created with anodized titanium by just creating the right thickness of the oxide layer.
Black titanium has become particularly appealing to men as the perfect material for fashion rings and for black titanium wedding bands. Black Titanium is an alloy of titanium and other metals that can color it from a darker gray to a black. The black titanium wedding band can then be polished to a bright reflective finish, a satin finish or a semi gloss finish. Whatever the finish, the combination of black titanium with diamonds, inlays of yellow gold or white gold results in a truly stunning look. The only problem with a titanium wedding band is the fact that it cannot be sized like gold or platinum. Once you get your finger sized and fitted for an 8mm black titanium wedding band, you’re pretty much stick with it if your finger size fluctuates. Also, titanium does not accommodate stones that need to be prong set. titanium is not a malleable metal as such and so its virtually impossible for a jeweler with his regular tools to fashion prongs in titanium.
Titanium is a material that is more suited for men’s titanium wedding bands than for women’s because men’s fingers generally don’t fluctuate as much in size because of pregnancy, water retention and other common feminine issues. A mans finger will change size with a weight gain or weight loss or arthritis. That being said, there are many women who like the looks of platinum and have gladly purchased a titanium band to match that of their spouse’s. She may choose the narrower 6mm titanium wedding band with an inlay of gold and may even have it in more than one size to accommodate finger size fluctuations given the lower cost of titanium wedding band sets compared to that of gold or even palladium.
