Engineering and fabrication

At what temperature does metal change colors?

I saw a car the other day that's body wasn't painted, the body had been brought down to metal and the heated to change colors (that purple, green, blue, etc color that seems to flow together), then sprayed with clear coat. How do people get the metal to change colors, at what temperature does it change? I'd probably be doing a motorcycle fender.

Public Comments

1. most metals will start to change colour at 260 Degrees centigrade with a pale straw first appearing. the colours deepen through gold to blue around 400 (depending on metal) if you get to red you will have gone past any colouring effect and at yellow there is a distinct risk of sudden melting of metalwork. needless to say chemicals Can be added to the surface of the metal to affect colour changes more readily. Over heating of metal will affect it structural strenght too and should not be undertaken without knowing what you are about.


2. You will get different colors at different temperatures, in heating as well as way metal is cooled afterwards, -- This is a thing that you just have to know "what it looks like" as it is heated, -- so get yourself some "sheetmetal" about the same thickness as what you want to work on and experiment! Old car fender or something will work (stay away from galvanized, as the burning coating is not real healthy to breathe)! You will find that the colors left after heating will even change somewhat if you heat a place near it later, - which (is what) seems to make colors sort of "flow" together!


3. another thing you should ask is for tips on how to get the clearcoat to stick to the bare metal from what I've heard thats a problem for these types of effects