Article ID

2003Bdb1001

Title

Calciothermic Reduction of Titanium Oxide in Molten CaCl2


Author(s)

Ryosuke O. Suzuki and Shuichi Inoue



Publication/Publisher

Metall. Mater. Trans. B., vol. 34B, pp. 277-286, (2003)



Abstract


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.