Titanium oxides were reduced to metallic titanium using the liquid calcium
floating on the molten CaCl2. A part of Ca dissolved into CaCl2
and reacted with TiO2 settled below CaCl2. The by-
product CaO also dissolved by about 20 mol pct into CaCl2, which was
effective to reduce the oxygen concentration in the obtained Ti particles. The
compositional region in the Ca-CaCl2-CaO system was examined for the
less oxygen contamination in Ti and the better handling in leaching. A large
amount of the residual calcium oxidized the titanium powder in leaching. The
metallic Ti powder less than 1000 mass ppm oxygen could be obtained only for
3.6 ks using 5-7 mol pct Ca-CaCl2 at 1173 K. The powder was slightly
sintered like sponge, and contained approximately 1500 ppm Ca. The anatase
phase, the intermediate product in the refining process of TiO2,
could be also supplied as raw material as well as rutile.