Titanium face plate for cellular phone with crystalline grain texture

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a scratch-resistant article for covering an object, such as a cellular phone, wherein the article comprises titanium metal or titanium alloy with grain size greater than 0.030 inch. Also disclosed is a method of producing such articles comprising thermally treating titanium in vacuum at a minimum temperature of 1900° F. for at least 5 minutes.

1 . A scratch-resistant article for covering an object, said article comprising titanium metal or titanium alloy with grain size greater than 0.030 inch.  
   
   
       2 . The scratch-resistant article of  claim 1 , which is an external housing for covering a cellular phone.  
   
   
       3 . The scratch-resistant article of  claim 2 , wherein said external housing mitigates radiation transmitted by the cell phone.  
   
   
       4 . A method of producing a titanium containing article with grain size greater than 0.030 inch composed of thermally treating titanium in vacuum at a minimum temperature of 1900° F. for at least 5 minutes.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said thermally treating comprises heating at a temperature above the beta transition temperature for the titanium and subsequently cooling through this transition temperature to the alpha or alpha/beta range.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising at least one additional process chosen from anodizing or further thermal treatment for a time sufficient to change the color of the vacuum treated article.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said thermally treating comprises heating under vacuum to 2250° F. for 2 hours.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the resulting article comprises equiaxed grains of approximately 0.125 inch in diameter.