A Novel Low Cost Process for Production of Ti Metal Powder

The development of low cost titanium metal production processes has challenged the Ti research and industrial communities around the world for decades. The strong affinity of titanium to oxygen dictates that it is very difficult to produce low-oxygen Ti metal from TiO₂ directly. In this paper, a hydrogen assisted magnesiothermic reduction (HAMR) process for producing Ti metal powder from TiO₂ powder at relatively low temperatures (≤ 750°C) is established. The overall approach is based on the thermodynamic tuning of the relative stability of MgO versus that of Ti-O solid solutions by temporarily alloying the system with hydrogen. It is shown that Ti-H-O solid solutions are less stable than their corresponding Ti-O solid solutions, which changes the reaction of Mg with Ti-O from being thermodynamically unfavorable to being favorable. This paper will discuss the key steps for producing pure Ti metal powder from TiO₂. This paper will also show that the chemical composition and physical properties of the produced meet or exceed the industry standing, making this a viable method for the production of low cost low-oxygen Ti metal powder.