Hello, my name is Chris Boothe and I am the developer of Multi-Etch®.
This is a product that enables you to strip the natural oxides off of titanium and get
really great colors when you go to anodize it.
You receive your first order of Multi-Etch®, it will come in a jug like this, gallon-sized.
And what you do is add a gallon of de-ionized or distilled water to that.
Best to let it sit overnight so it goes into solution.
Other shipments of Multi-Etch® that you receive will be in a package like this.
Now I'll describe our setup that I have here: Thermometer, fume hood, double boiler to heat
up the Multi-Etch® on a hot plate.
I have de-ionized water — you can also use distilled water as a rinse, power supply,
electrolytic bath, and a storage tank — and I'll describe that later.
So, why don't we get ready?
I have here a piece of titanium with tape down half of it so you'll be able to see what
happens if it's not Multi-Etched — I'll Multi-Etch® the entire piece.
So Multi-Etch®, when you see the fine bubbles, that's when it's ready to go: generally between
125 and 150°F. And we're right at about 140, 140-plus.
So we're good to go right now.
Piece of titanium — I leave it in the Multi-Etch® and I count to seven.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Right into the rinse bath here.
And then I take it over to the anodizing bath.
Now, let me remove this tape, so you can see the effect of the Multi-Etch®.
Now I've removed the tape that exposes the part of the titanium that was not Multi-Etched.
We'll go over to the anodizing tank, start at a low voltage.
You can see the color starting to form here.
Bring up the voltage — you can clearly see the effect of Multi-Etch®.
Increase the voltage — Multi-Etched, not Multi-Etched.
Dramatic demonstration of what this product can do.
Abutments: Prior to putting the nice yellow or gold color on there, they do need to be
Multi-Etched.
This is a plastic basket.
I will put it in the Multi-Etch®, count to seven, one and two and three and four and
five and six and seven.
Go right into the rinse, and now I am ready to anodize.
I'll turn the voltage down a bit.
With this probe method you can anodize many parts at once.
Bring up the voltage a bit.
Of course the more parts you have, the longer it's going to take to get the color you're
after.
Swish it around so they all get good contact.
OK!
And there we have some anodized abutments.
Now, you could also — if you're not ready to anodize — Multi-Etch® your titanium,
rinse, and put it in what we call a storage unit here, a storage tank with de-ionized
water.
Then you can go back hours or days later and anodize it in the colors that you want.
What I have here is a piece of titanium that I've put three different types of finishes
on: the polished, a satin finish, and a bead-blasted finish.
The nice thing about Multi-Etch®, it will retain whatever finish you put on the titanium.
So, back to the Multi-Etch® tank, into the rinse, and we're ready to anodize.
Now I do have the voltage turned up high, so the longer I leave it in, the thicker the
oxide will become.
So what you've seen here is the finish is being maintained — you still have your polished,
your satin, and your bead-blasted finish there.
A very easy procedure to do, and in orders of magnitude, much safer than hydrofluoric
acid.