Is it possible for memory titanium to just snap?

[fuzzybabybunny]

About six months ago I bought a pair of these eyeglasses. They are advertised as being bendable, memory titanium that's extremely durable. I bought these because my past three glasses ALL broke at the nose bridge piece within a year.

I totally babied these glasses. There are absolutely no scratches on the lenses and they have never ever ever been subjected to any kind of squeezing or crushing force like if I were to wear these sleeping and I roll over onto my face.

Just today, I was standing in the checkout lane at Kroger, and I push on the bridge to reposition the glasses because they had slipped a bit too far down my nose.

It broke clean in two. The bridge just kinda did a very clean, very flat break. Just a sudden instantaneous disconnect.

Is it possible that this was a fluke and that there was some rare problem with the metal? I'm thinking about reordering these frames (keep my current lenses).

I called Zenni and their customer service is to the point, as usual.

fuzzy: I'm a little bit concerned with the quality of this replacement frame. Do you have any others that may be more durable?

CSR: Nothisframeisoneofourmostpopularframesiftherewasaproblemwiththisframewewouldnot
besellingtheseyourframeshavebeenorderedyoushouldrecievetheminseventoeightdays
thankyougoodbye.

 

[Biggerhammer]

I've had it happen with glasses frames before. The frames were light and durable... I don't know what it takes to fatigue Ti though.

 

[Compton]

There's no way that should have snapped them. I have a pair of Flexon eyeglasses that I have been wearing since 97. They have a lot of miles on them and they are still like new.

 

[Shadowknight]

Yep. I had some titanium glasses I wore a lot in college. A lens had popped out, and apprently I didn't pop it in correctly and it put strain on the frame, so after awhile the frame around the lens spontaneously snapped one day. Fortunately the glasses came with a lifetime warranty.

 

[NanoStuff]

That's what you get for buying titanium frames. Not a very strong material. I bet you got ass raped for a few hundred dollars to get them.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
That's what you get for buying titanium frames. Not a very strong material. I bet you got ass raped for a few hundred dollars to get them.

Hahaha

Titanium is pretty strong. It's almost as strong as steel, and almost (but not quite) as light as aluminum.

 

[andylawcc]

wth? I NEVER break my eyeglasses frame... and I had been wearing glasses for 12 years and went through 6 pairs at least. only one of them broke but not in the nose-bridge area. I am sorry this happened to you so often, but it sounds very absurd to me.

 

[DrPizza]

I've had glasses break there before; usually within the first month or so of owning them. The optical person said that it's one of the most common problems - the weld sometimes isn't as good as it should be. A couple days later and I had an identical replacement frame. These are a few years old and I haven't had any problems since.

 

[doze]

fuzzy...I've always been sceptical of the rimless frames, they just do not like they are well made. I'm hard on glasses and a pair like that (titanium or not) would last me about a week.

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
That's what you get for buying titanium frames. Not a very strong material. I bet you got ass raped for a few hundred dollars to get them.

click the link in the OP dummy they cost $30.00

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
About six months ago I bought a pair of these eyeglasses. They are advertised as being bendable, memory titanium that's extremely durable. I bought these because my past three glasses ALL broke at the nose bridge piece within a year.

I totally babied these glasses. There are absolutely no scratches on the lenses and they have never ever ever been subjected to any kind of squeezing or crushing force like if I were to wear these sleeping and I roll over onto my face.

Just today, I was standing in the checkout lane at Kroger, and I push on the bridge to reposition the glasses because they had slipped a bit too far down my nose.

It broke clean in two. The bridge just kinda did a very clean, very flat break. Just a sudden instantaneous disconnect.

Is it possible that this was a fluke and that there was some rare problem with the metal? I'm thinking about reordering these frames (keep my current lenses).

I called Zenni and their customer service is to the point, as usual.

fuzzy: I'm a little bit concerned with the quality of this replacement frame. Do you have any others that may be more durable?

CSR: Nothisframeisoneofourmostpopularframesiftherewasaproblemwiththisframewewouldnot
besellingtheseyourframeshavebeenorderedyoushouldrecievetheminseventoeightdays
thankyougoodbye.

outside the lenses with no scratches. Was this before or after you sat on them once and flexed them in half.

Memory metals are good at bends, but they can be sheared by a direct 180deg fold.

Just pushing them up with no prior damage only to have them snap in half would be like winning the powerball lottery of metal failures.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Yep. I had some titanium glasses I wore a lot in college. A lens had popped out, and apprently I didn't pop it in correctly and it put strain on the frame, so after awhile the frame around the lens spontaneously snapped one day. Fortunately the glasses came with a lifetime warranty.

I have had that happen. The joint right were the left side of the bridge and eyepiece met...unfortunately my $300 frames did not have a warranty like that...they lasted 2 years though.

Another eyeglass shop showed me how my lens was cut slightly too large for the frame and caused the failure. The other shop would not extend the courtesy to replace it.

 

[theeedude]

The problem I had with my flexon frame is not the bridge breaking, but the lenses cracking.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: doze
fuzzy...I've always been sceptical of the rimless frames, they just do not like they are well made. I'm hard on glasses and a pair like that (titanium or not) would last me about a week.

I've had rimless (and hingeless) glasses for more than 4 years now, same frames, no problems. I really need to get new lenses because I'm just starting to have issues with very far distance focus, but the frames are still great. I don't hardly take care of my glasses at all and these have still lasted. I've been very impressed by my current frame and will certainly buy another when I get around to visiting the Opthomalogist.

http://www.silhouette.com/main.aspx?jumpTo=&lang=en&region=3

Style 7473
ZV

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

outside the lenses with no scratches. Was this before or after you sat on them once and flexed them in half.

Memory metals are good at bends, but they can be sheared by a direct 180deg fold.

Just pushing them up with no prior damage only to have them snap in half would be like winning the powerball lottery of metal failures.

I have never sat on them. The reason my past three glasses broke is because I was rough with them, but this time I took special care to keep them in pristine shape. The most "squishing" it has had is when I'm taking photos and it gets pushed up against my face when I bring my eye to the viewfinder.

Also, it did not snap at a joint. It snapped along a straight piece of metal.

So I'm really, really confused. The only metal that I know of that just sorta snaps like that is tin. This makes me think that Zenni Optical's "memory titanium" eyeglasses are probably only made of memory titanium on the arms that hug your temple, and not the nose piece. I noticed that the nose piece definitely does not flex like the temple arms.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
That's what you get for buying titanium frames. Not a very strong material. I bet you got ass raped for a few hundred dollars to get them.

Wow. Uhhh....

Saying titanium isn't strong is like saying diamond is like jello. And yeah, the link to the glasses I bought appear in the first sentence of my post, word #10 to be exact.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
The only metal that I know of that just sorta snaps like that is tin. This makes me think that Zenni Optical's "memory titanium" eyeglasses are probably only made of memory titanium on the arms that hug your temple, and not the nose piece. I noticed that the nose piece definitely does not flex like the temple arms.

Sounds like it. For the price of those frames, it would not surprise me at all. Even conventional frames that I've had in the past were >$100. Current frames were about $200, but I've had them more than 4 years, and even when I get new lenses I'll probably just have them put into my current frames. Was worth the money to me, that and my insurance paid for them so I think my out of pocket was something like $25. (Yay for company-paid insurance.)

ZV

 

[magomago]

Well titanium on an absolute scale isn't ridiculously strong....

but that isn't what titanium is about....what makes everyone excited about it, and love to use it is that Titanium has one of the highest strength to weight ratios.

Thus, for how LIGHT it is, it is still very STRONG making it very desirable in almost any instance where weight is a consideration... [which is like...almost every situation ]

 

[ChooChooChooseMe]

Pics? :camera:

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: ChooChooChooseMe
Pics? :camera:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug.com/gallery/2527675#144012605-L-LB

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
That's what you get for buying titanium frames. Not a very strong material. I bet you got ass raped for a few hundred dollars to get them.

Didn't you even click the link? Zenni is the best place to get glasses, great quality, cheap as hell prices. Got mine from there, the complete full package, with a case and shipping, cost me less then $38, and I had the prescription checked and it was spot on. Will always buy from them from now on.

 

[Howard]

Is it actually titanium, or Nitinol?

 

[Shawn]

I have one of those expensive frameless glasses + expensive transition lenses. They broke at the nose after about a year. I just super glued the lens to the frame and it I've had it like that for about 2 months now. I have to reglue every few weeks but it's cheaper than buying new glasses and it's not really noticeable.

 

[zylander]

Odd, the titanium frames I currently have have never broken. Ive had mine for about 6-7 years and I am pretty rough with them too. Never heard of a titanium frame breaking like that, I thought that was the whole reason to buy a titanium frame because it doesnt break, just bends.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Howard
Is it actually titanium, or Nitinol?

Probably some kind of titanium alloy like Nitinol. I highly doubt it's actually pure titanium. Either way, Zenni Optical doesn't provide any additional info other than they are "memory titanium."

 

[sdifox]

There is no such thing as bendable titanium... Nickel-Titanium, yes. And anything can snap. You just gotta hit it the right way