Titanium, stainless and aluminium expand and corrode differently, so the joints between them decide the result. How mixed-material assemblies are welded, isolated and sequenced on the bench.
Stainless fails at predictable places: condensate inside the tube, chloride pitting outside, crevices behind clamps, oxidised weld roots and mixed-metal fixings. How to design against them.
Wall thickness drives weight, sound, bendability and weld tolerance at the same time. A section-by-section look at what thin wall and thick wall each buy on a fabricated exhaust system.
Brushed, polished and satin surfaces age in different ways in real service. How each finish is produced, where titanium colouring fits in, and how weld dressing decides whether a finish survives.
Sheet, tube, plate and billet each impose their own cutting, forming and welding route. Why the starting form of titanium decides tooling, scrap and how a custom part is actually built.
A mill certificate proves the chemistry and heat number of the metal, not the quality of the finished part. What traceability really covers, and what a fabrication shop has to demonstrate separately.
6061, 5052 and 3003 each behave differently under the torch. How alloy and temper choice shapes intercooler end tanks, catch cans, fuel and water tanks and charge piping in an engine bay.
304 is the baseline, 321 and 347 are stabilised against heat, and 439 carries no nickel. A side-by-side look at how the four grades behave in exhaust service, in the weld and under corrosion.
