Overview

A custom titanium terminal is a connection lug, tab or contact plate designed from scratch for environments where ordinary copper or steel terminals fail — seawater, chloride, bodily fluid, aggressive chemicals or weight-critical airborne equipment. Photochemical machining cuts the outline, holes, crimp windows and half-etched weld lands from Grade 1/2 or Ti-6Al-4V foil, and because titanium's passive oxide resists corrosion without plating, the part survives exposure that would pit a plated steel lug. Stock runs from 0.10 mm to 0.60 mm, with profile tolerance around ±0.03 mm.

What makes the job custom rather than catalog is the collaboration around conductivity. Titanium conducts far less than copper, so a custom titanium terminal is usually engineered with a wider cross-section and a selective Ni/Au or Ni/Sn plating only on the mating and crimp zones, with the plating specification tied to a contact-resistance limit. The supplier and buyer work through DFM on hole spacing, bend radius, weld-land thickness and assembly orientation before any film is cut, then qualify the design with salt-spray, resistance and, for medical use, biocompatibility evidence. That loop is why prototypes lead to a controlled production part rather than a one-off sample.

Parameter Window

• Available Materials: titanium Grade 1/Grade 2 commercially pure, Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5), titanium-nickel
• Material Thickness Range: 0.10–0.60 mm
• Tolerance: ±0.03 mm on profile, ±10% of thickness on half-etched weld lands
• Minimum Feature: 0.30 mm hole, 0.25 mm slot at 0.30 mm stock
• Surface Options: selective Ni/Au or Ni/Sn plating, passivation, anodised marking, electropolish, tape-and-reel
• Compliance: ISO 9001 process control, RoHS/REACH material traceability

Manufacturing Process / Workflow (8 Steps)

1. Requirement Workshop — Define current, medium, temperature, mating interface, joining method and any regulatory evidence needed.
2. DFM & Cross-Section Sizing — Widen current paths to offset titanium conductivity and place half-etched weld lands.
3. Grade & Heat Lock — Choose CP grade for formability or Grade 5 for strength, and reserve a specific foil heat.
4. Artwork & Compensation — Apply a titanium-specific etch factor and define the plating mask as a separate film layer.
5. Cleaning & Lamination — Controlled fluoride activation followed by two-sided dry-film lamination.
6. Etching & Half-Etching — Cut the outline and holes while timing reduced-depth crimp and weld zones in the same bath.
7. Stripping & Selective Plating — Strip, degas if required, then plate only the mating and crimp zones with Ni/Au or Ni/Sn.
8. Qualification & Delivery — Verify contact resistance, plating thickness, salt-spray behaviour and dimensions, then pack to the drawing.

Core Advantages

1. Corrosion without plating: The passive oxide protects the body of the part, so only functional zones need coating.
2. Lightweight and non-magnetic: Well suited to airborne equipment and MRI-adjacent assemblies.
3. Built around the interface: Hole pattern, bend and weld land are designed for the actual mating part, not a catalog shape.
4. Burfree mating faces: Chemical cutting gives a flat contact face and low, repeatable contact resistance.
5. Revision-friendly tooling: A design change is a revised film, so low-volume custom runs stay economical.
6. Evidence-backed release: A qualified custom titanium terminal ships with resistance, plating and salt-spray records tied to the approved sample.

Typical Applications

• Marine and offshore connectors: Terminals exposed to salt spray without protective paint or heavy plating.
• Implantable and surgical devices: Passivated lugs for equipment that contacts bodily fluid.
• Chemical processing sensors: Connection tabs in chloride or acidic media where steel would pit.
• Aerospace harness lugs: Lightweight, non-magnetic terminals for airborne power distribution.
• Battery and fuel-cell plates: Corrosion-resistant tabs in humid, electrochemically active stacks.
• Vacuum and analytical instruments: Clean, low-outgassing terminals for electron-optical assemblies.

Design Notes & Process Considerations

1. Size for conductivity: Recalculate cross-section rather than copying a copper lug; titanium needs more area for the same current.
2. Hole and slot sizing: Keep holes at 1.0 × stock thickness and slots at 1.5 ×, or walls thin and distort.
3. Plating zone definition: Provide a separate mask layer naming exactly which areas receive Ni/Au or Ni/Sn.
4. Joining method: State whether the terminal is crimped, welded or bolted, since each sets a different half-etch land thickness.
5. Passive film and cleaning: Fluoride activation must be controlled, or plating adhesion and edge quality will scatter.
6. Qualification evidence: Define salt-spray duration, resistance limit and any biocompatibility documentation; a disciplined custom titanium terminal programme freezes these before production rather than adding them afterwards.