Guides / Process
Titanium Speeds and Feeds, and Why They Decide Your Lead Time
You do not need to program the part, but knowing roughly what a shop runs in titanium tells you why the quote looks the way it does. Almost every surprise in a titanium price traces back to one number: the metal comes off slowly.
The one number behind everything
Thermal conductivity.
| Material | Thermal conductivity |
|---|---|
| Aluminium 6061 | around 167 W/m K |
| Copper | around 400 W/m K |
| Stainless 316L | around 16 W/m K |
| Titanium Grade 2 | around 17 W/m K |
| Titanium Grade 5, Ti-6Al-4V | around 7 W/m K |
In aluminium most of the cutting heat leaves in the chip. In Ti-6Al-4V it does not. It stays in a very small volume right at the cutting edge, which is also where the tool is. Everything else about titanium machining follows from that.
Typical starting parameters
These are the ranges tool suppliers publish as starting points for coated carbide with good coolant. A shop will have its own numbers, logged from its own machines.
| Operation | Grade 2 (CP) | Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) |
|---|---|---|
| Milling, surface speed | around 60 to 100 m/min | around 30 to 60 m/min |
| Turning, surface speed | around 90 to 140 m/min | around 60 to 90 m/min |
| Drilling, surface speed | around 25 to 45 m/min | around 15 to 30 m/min |
| Feed per tooth, end mill | 0.05 to 0.15 mm | 0.05 to 0.12 mm |
| Radial depth, roughing | 30 to 50 percent of diameter | 10 to 25 percent of diameter |
| Coolant | Flood, generous | High pressure through spindle where available |
Compare that with aluminium, where 300 m/min is a starting point rather than a ceiling. The ratio is roughly six to one against Grade 5, and it is the single biggest reason a titanium part costs what it does.
Why the rules are the way they are
Keep the tool moving. Titanium work hardens. A tool that dwells or rubs instead of cutting hardens the surface it is sitting on and then has to cut through that. Programmers avoid dwells, avoid arcing out at the same point twice and avoid interrupted cuts where they can.
Keep the edge sharp and positive. A worn edge rubs, and rubbing is heat. Shops change inserts in titanium on a schedule, not on a noise.
Favour feed over speed. A thicker chip carries more heat out of the cut. High feed milling, a light axial depth with a heavy feed rate, is a standard titanium roughing strategy for exactly this reason.
Get coolant to the edge. Flood works. Through spindle coolant at 70 bar and above works better, especially in deep pockets and in drilling, where it also clears chips before they get recut.
Never let the chip get recut. A recut titanium chip is hard, hot and abrasive, and it will take the edge off in seconds.
What this means for your cycle time
A worked example, kept general because real numbers depend on the part.
Take a pocket that needs 200 cm3 of material removed. In 6061 a shop might be removing material at several hundred cm3 per minute on a decent machine. In Ti-6Al-4V the same machine might manage a small fraction of that. The programming is not worse. The material simply will not allow it.
That is why the honest answer to “can you make it faster” is usually about the drawing rather than the machine:
- Can we start from a smaller blank, or a near net shape?
- Can this pocket be shallower, or this wall thicker?
- Can these internal corners be bigger, so a stiffer cutter fits?
- Does this whole face need the tight tolerance, or just this one bore?
What you can read from a quote
If a shop gives you an estimated cycle time, you can sanity check it in your head.
- A titanium part quoted with an aluminium sounding cycle time has probably been estimated, not programmed.
- A price far below the others usually means the same thing.
- A shop that talks about coolant pressure, insert grades and roughing strategy in the quote email is a shop that has run this material.
None of that requires you to know the numbers yourself. It just requires you to notice whether the shop does.
If you want to go deeper
Tool suppliers publish detailed titanium data and it is free. Sandvik Coromant, Kennametal and Harvey Performance all maintain application guides for Ti-6Al-4V, and Machining Doctor keeps public data sheets by material. Read them if you specify a lot of titanium. They will change how you draw the part.
Frequently asked questions
What surface speed is used for Ti-6Al-4V?
Typical carbide milling runs around 30 to 60 m/min and turning around 60 to 90 m/min, with coated inserts and good coolant. Those are starting points from tool supplier data. The real number depends on the tool, the coolant pressure and how rigid the setup is.
Why can't a shop just run titanium faster?
Heat. Titanium's thermal conductivity is around 7 W/m K, roughly one twentieth of aluminium, so the heat stays at the cutting edge instead of leaving in the chip. Push the speed and the tool fails in minutes rather than hours.
Does higher feed help in titanium?
Often yes. A heavier chip carries more heat away and keeps the edge cutting rather than rubbing. High feed milling with a small depth of cut is a common titanium strategy, but it needs a rigid setup and a machine with torque at low rpm.
Need a quote for this part?
Send the drawing. We match you with up to 3 titanium shops and reply within 24 business hours.
Get matched with a titanium shop