A Novel Process for Direct No-melt Production of Spherical Titanium and Titanium Alloy Powders from Oxides

Ti is a high performance light metal, used in various areas owing to its high specific strength, exceptional corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility, however expensive for many industrial or consumer applications. It is recognized that the greatest saving for titanium lies in the combination of improved extraction processes and powder metallurgy. Spherical powder is preferred for most promising powder metallurgy processes, including hot isotactic pressing, powder coating, metal injection moulding and additive manufacturing. However the price of spherical Ti powder is as high as $250-$400/kg in the current market, which significantly hinders the further development of titanium industry. Here we report a new process, which combines an improved extraction process and a specialized spheroidization process, for direct producing spherical titanium and its alloy powder from oxides with much less energy consumption and cost saving than conventional methods discovered.