titanium processing

Introduction

      preparation of the ore for use in various products.

      Titanium (Ti) is a soft, ductile, silvery gray metal with a melting point of 1,675° C (3,047° F). Owing to the formation on its surface of an oxide film that is relatively inert chemically, it has excellent corrosion resistance in most natural environments. In addition, it is light in weight, with a density (4.51 grams per cubic centimetre) midway between aluminum and iron. Its combination of low density and high strength gives it the most efficient strength-to-weight ratio of common metals for temperatures up to 600° C (1,100° F).

      Because its atomic diameter is similar to many common metals such as aluminum, iron, tin, and vanadium, titanium can easily be alloyed to improve its properties. Like iron, the metal can exist in two crystalline forms: hexagonal close-packed (hcp) below 883° C (1,621° F) and body-centred cubic (bcc) at higher temperatures up to its melting point. This allotropic behaviour and the capacity to alloy with many elements result in titanium alloys that have a wide range of mechanical and corrosion-resistant properties.

      Although titanium ores are abundant, the high reactivity of the metal with oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen in the air at elevated temperatures necessitates complicated and therefore costly production and fabrication processes.

History

      Titanium ore was first discovered in 1791 in Cornish beach sands by an English clergyman, William Gregor. The actual identification of the oxide was made a few years later by a German chemist, M.H. Klaproth (Klaproth, Martin Heinrich). Klaproth gave the metal constituent of this oxide the name titanium, after the Titans, the giants of Greek mythology.

      Pure metallic titanium was first produced in either 1906 or 1910 by M.A. Hunter at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y., U.S.) in cooperation with the General Electric Company. These researchers believed titanium had a melting point of 6,000° C (10,800° F) and was therefore a candidate for incandescent-lamp filaments, but, when Hunter produced a metal with a melting point closer to 1,800° C (3,300° F), the effort was abandoned. Nevertheless, Hunter did indicate that the metal had some ductility, and his method of producing it by reacting titanium tetrachloride (TiCl₄) with sodium under vacuum was later commercialized and is now known as the Hunter process. Metal of significant ductility was produced in 1925 by the Dutch scientists A.E. van Arkel and J.H. de Boer, who dissociated titanium tetraiodide on a hot filament in an evacuated glass bulb.

      In 1932 William J. Kroll of Luxembourg produced significant quantities of ductile titanium by combining TiCl₄ with calcium. By 1938 Kroll had produced 20 kilograms (50 pounds) of titanium and was convinced that it possessed excellent corrosion and strength properties. At the start of World War II he fled Europe and continued his work in the United States at the Union Carbide Company and later at the U.S. Bureau of Mines. By this time, he had changed the reducing agent from calcium to magnesium metal. Kroll is now recognized as the father of the modern titanium industry, and the Kroll process is the basis for most current titanium production.

      A U.S. Air Force study conducted in 1946 concluded that titanium-based alloys were engineering materials of potentially great importance, since the emerging need for higher strength-to-weight ratios in jet aircraft structures and engines could not be satisfied efficiently by either steel or aluminum. As a result, the Department of Defense provided production incentives to start the titanium industry in 1950. Similar industrial capacity was founded in Japan, the U.S.S.R., and the United Kingdom. After this impetus was provided by the aerospace industry, the ready availability of the metal gave rise to opportunities for new applications in other markets, such as chemical processing, medicine, power generation, and waste treatment.

Ores

      Titanium is the fourth most abundant structural metal on Earth, exceeded only by aluminum, iron, and magnesium. Workable mineral deposits are dispersed worldwide and include sites in Australia, the United States, Canada, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, Russia, Norway, Malaysia, and several other countries.

      The predominate minerals are rutile, which is about 95 percent titanium dioxide (TiO₂), and ilmenite (FeTiO₃), which contains 50 to 65 percent TiO₂. A third mineral, leucoxene, is an alteration of ilmenite from which a portion of the iron has been naturally leached. It has no specific titanium content. Titanium minerals occur in alluvial and volcanic formations. Deposits usually contain between 3 and 12 percent heavy minerals, consisting of ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene, zircon, and monazite.

Mining and concentrating

      Although workable known reserves of rutile are diminishing, ilmenite deposits are abundant. Typical mining is by open pit. A suction bucket wheel on a floating dredge supplies a mineral-rich sand to a set of screens called trommels, which remove unwanted materials.

      Typically, the minerals are separated from waste material by gravity separation in a wet spiral concentrator. The resulting concentrates are separated by passing them through a complex series of electrostatic, magnetic, and gravity equipment.

Extraction and refining

TiCl₄

      The production of titanium metal accounts for only 5 percent of annual titanium mineral consumption; the rest goes to the titanium pigment industry. Pigments are produced using either a sulfate process or a more environmentally acceptable carbo-chlorination process (described below) that converts TiO₂ into TiCl₄. The latter process also supplies the TiCl₄ necessary for the production of titanium metal.

      Environmental and economic constraints dictate that the ore feed stocks converted by carbo-chlorination processes now in use contain greater than 90 percent TiO₂. Only natural rutile meets this requirement, but ilmenite can be upgraded through combinations of pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical techniques to produce a synthetic rutile of 90 to 93 percent TiO₂. In addition, titaniferous magnetite ores can be smelted to produce pig iron and titanium-rich slags. Rutile, leucoxene, synthetic rutile, and slag can then be mixed to provide a feed stock of more than 90 percent TiO₂ for the chlorination process.

      In the first step of this process, the oxide ores are reacted with chlorine in a fluidized bed of petroleum coke. Oxygen combines with carbon (C) in the coke to produce carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), while the titanium and chlorine react to form a gaseous TiCl₄, as in the following reaction:

      (The X and Y represent variable quantities whose ratio depends on the reaction temperature, which varies between 850° and 1,000° C [1,550° and 1,800° F].) The raw TiCl₄ is cleaned of fine particles of entrained coke and titanium ore, and then it is liquified and passed through a distillation column to remove volatile impurities of both high and low boiling points. Vanadium oxychloride, an impurity with a boiling point similar to TiCl₄, is stripped from the product stream by reaction with mineral oil. The TiCl₄ is then redistilled to remove other impurities in a reflux distillation column. This process produces TiCl₄ of a purity exceeding 99.9 percent. Since any contaminants in the TiCl₄ would later be reduced along with the titanium metal, high-quality TiCl₄ must be produced to achieve high-quality metal.

Titanium sponge

      In the production of titanium pigments (pigment), the TiCl₄ would be reoxidized to TiO₂, but, in the production of titanium metal, it is reduced with either sodium (Na) in the Hunter process or with magnesium (Mg) in the Kroll process:

      These reactions take place in large, sealed steel vessels at approximately 800° to 1,000° C (1,450° to 1,800° F) in an inert argon atmosphere to avoid contamination of the final product by air or moisture. Both processes produce titanium in the form of a highly porous material called sponge, with the salts NaCl or MgCl₂ entrapped in the pores. The sponge is crushed, and the metal and salts are separated by either a dilute acid leach or by high-temperature vacuum distillation. The salts are recycled through electrolytic cells to produce sodium or magnesium for reuse in metal reduction and chlorine for reuse in chlorination of the ore.

      A different process that offers hope for an improved and simplified method of producing titanium metal is the direct electrowinning of titanium from TiCl₄ in fused chloride salt baths. In this case, titanium sponge collects on a steel cathode, and chlorine gas is given off at the carbon anode. The required use in this process of high-melting-point salts, combined with the need for maintaining an inert environment, present major technical and economical hurdles that have to be overcome in order to achieve commercial status.

Titanium ingot

      The conversion of purified titanium sponge to a form useful for structural purposes involves several steps. Consolidation into titanium ingot is performed in a vacuum or argon environment by the consumable-electrode arc-melting process. Sponge, alloying elements, and in some cases recycled scrap are first mechanically compacted and then welded into a long, cylindrical electrode. The electrode is melted vertically into a water-cooled copper crucible by passing an electric current through it. To ensure uniform distribution of alloying elements, this primary ingot is remelted at least once in a similar manner. Ingots weigh between 4 and 10 tons and are up to 1,050 millimetres (42 inches) in diameter.

      Cold-hearth melting is an alternate consolidation process that is conducted inside an argon or vacuum chamber containing a water-cooled, horizontal copper crucible. Heating is accomplished by multiple electron-beam or by argon/helium plasma torches. The molten metal flows in a horizontal path over the lip of the hearth into a suitably shaped, water-cooled copper mold. The cold-hearth process is well suited to separating high-density contaminants, which settle to the bottom of the hearth. For this reason, it is used primarily to recycle titanium scrap, which can contain carbide tool bits left over from machining operations.

      Consolidated ingots are processed into mill products such as bar, billet, wire, tubing, plate, and sheet by traditional steel facilities.

The metal and its alloys (alloy)

Alpha and beta phases

      The atoms of pure titanium align in the solid state in either a hexagonal close-packed crystalline structure, called the alpha (α) phase, or a body-centred cubic structure, called the beta (β) phase. In the pure metal, transformation from the alpha to the beta phase occurs upon heating above 883° C, but most alloying elements either stabilize the alpha phase to higher temperatures or stabilize the beta phase to lower temperatures. Aluminum (Al) and oxygen are typical alpha-stabilizing elements, and typical beta-stabilizing elements are vanadium (V), iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), palladium (Pd), niobium (Nb), silicon (Si), and chromium (Cr). A few other alloying elements, such as tin (Sn) and zirconium (Zr), have little effect on phase stabilization. The most important alloying element is aluminum, which, in concentrations up to 8 percent by weight of the alloy, can be added as a strengthener without impairing ductility.

      The lowest temperature at which a 100-percent beta phase can exist is called the beta transus; this can range from 700° C (1,300° F) to as high as 1,050° C (1,900° F), depending on alloy composition. Final mechanical working and heat treatments of titanium alloys are generally conducted below the beta transus temperature in order to achieve the proper microstructural phase distribution and grain size.

      Using the common phases present at room temperature, titanium alloys are divided into four classes: commercially pure, alpha, alpha-beta, and beta. Each class has distinctive characteristics. Pure titanium, although very ductile, has low strength and is therefore used when strength is not critical and corrosion resistance is desired. The alpha alloys are weldable and have good elevated-temperature strengths. The alpha-beta alloys are widely used because of their good combinations of strength, toughness, and formability. The beta alloys are useful where very high tensile strengths are required.

      There are three important markets for titanium metal: aerospace, nonaerospace industries, and alloy additives. The aerospace and industrial markets utilize mill products, while the alloy-additive market consumes lower-cost titanium units such as scrap and sponge. Small additions of titanium (less than 1 percent) are added to other metals such as nickel, aluminum, and iron in order to improve formability and mechanical properties.

Aerospace applications

       Titanium aerospace alloysThe aerospace market is still the most important, with titanium products being used in both commercial (aviation) and military aircraft (Table (Titanium aerospace alloys) ). Gas turbines (gas-turbine engine) account for nearly half of annual titanium production. Titanium alloys are utilized principally in the fan and compressor sections at temperatures up to 600° C. Typical parts include inlet cases, compressor blades, disks, and hubs, as well as spacers and seals. The large high-bypass turbofan engines utilized on wide-body commercial airliners could not have been developed without strong, lightweight titanium alloys. These engines are greater than 25 percent by weight titanium.

      Titanium alloys are also utilized in airframes (airframe) because of their high strength-to-weight ratios, good toughness, and corrosion resistance. The titanium content of airframes can range from as low as 2 percent to as high as 30 percent by weight. Typical commercial airframes are 4 to 8 percent titanium, while many military aircraft contain greater amounts. The metal is used in fasteners, landing-gear supports, springs, fail-safe straps, and numerous internal bulkhead and wing-support components.

Nonaerospace applications

 The resistance of titanium to many corrosive environments, particularly oxidizing and chloride-containing process streams, has led to widespread industrial applications. Titanium is resistant to all natural environments, including natural waste products, body fluids, and salt and brackish water; to most salt solutions, including chlorides, bromides, iodides, and sulfides; and to most oxidizing acids, organic acids, and alkaline solutions. The Table—> shows the composition of several industrial alloys, along with their resistance to typical oxidizing and reducing environments.

      When strength is not a major consideration, commercially pure titanium is the material of choice because of its lower cost, ease of fabrication, and good corrosion resistance. Alloys (alloy) such as Ti–0.15Pd, Ti–0.3Mo–0.8Ni, and Ti–3A1–8V–6Cr–4Mo–4Zr can extend the usefulness of the metal to either higher temperatures or stronger concentrations of reducing acids and acidic salts. In recent years, more high-strength alloys have been utilized for corrosion applications. For example, Ti–6Al–4V, a versatile alloy that was developed in the 1950s for the aerospace industry, has become a very important material for medical prostheses (prosthesis) such as hip-joint replacements because of its strength-to-weight ratio and immunity to body fluids. Ti–3Al–8V–6Cr–4Mo–4Zr, an even stronger alloy, also has excellent resistance to high-temperature sour gas (natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide) and is therefore used in energy extraction for downhole tubing and casings and for instrumentation.

      Several industrial processes have been improved as a result of the availability of titanium. After titanium was introduced as a replacement for stainless-steel diffusion washers in the pulp and paper industry, the metal's excellent performance encouraged the design of new displacement bleaching systems using up to 35 tons of titanium components. Typical parts include diffusers, central shafts, scrapers, filtrate pumps, heat exchangers, packing boxes, and valves. In the early 1960s it was discovered that coating titanium with a platinum-group metal or metal oxide produced an anode (a negatively charged electrode) that was slow to corrode in electrolytic solutions. Coated titanium anodes soon replaced graphite anodes in the chlorine industry, resulting in lower costs and products of higher purity. Extensions of this technology are now being applied to electrogalvanizing and tin-coating processes.

      Chemical-process industries utilize titanium heat exchangers (heat exchanger) to eliminate corrosion problems caused by cooling waters containing chloride and sulfide, and several benefits can accrue from employing titanium on the process side of heat exchangers as well. Because the metal is resistant to erosion corrosion, titanium vessels can be subjected to process liquids flowing at high rates, thereby eliminating the danger of biofouling. In addition, titanium is the only metal known to be completely resistant to all forms of biofouling corrosion. These advantages, along with its light weight, make the metal desirable for heat exchangers in naval vessels and offshore oil platforms.

      Titanium is gaining greater recognition in consumer applications, such as eyeglass frames, watches, sports equipment, jewelry, high-performance automobiles, and roofing. Other possible applications include valves for automobile engines, scrubbers for flue-gas desulfurization, marine and offshore risers, joints and fittings, and nuclear-waste storage and transportation casks.

Chemical compounds

      Titanium oxide is widely prized for its opaque quality in coatings, plastics, high-gloss paints, ceramics, industrial enamels, paper, and inks. The compound is nontoxic and is the most common white pigment in the world.

      Titanium carbide (TiC) is used extensively for cutting tools because of its combination of wear resistance and high hardness. It is one of the hardest natural carbides. Titanium nitride (TiN) has an attractive yellow colour that is used in jewelry and decorative glass coatings. The high hardness of this compound has also made it very attractive as a coating to extend the life of tools. The electronics industry uses titanium nitride in very-large-scale-integration microprocessors as gates and diffusion barriers. Titanium tetrachloride, the starting material for TiO₂ pigments and titanium metal, serves the same function for many titanium compounds and is used as a catalyst as well.

      The titanium aluminide intermetallic compounds Ti₃Al and TiAl have attractive engineering properties that make them potential replacements for nickel-based superalloys in aircraft engines at temperatures from 600° to 870° C (1,100° to 1,600° F). A major impediment to wider use is their low ductility.

Stan R. Seagle

Additional Reading

Comprehensive and up-to-date information on many aspects of metallurgy, individual metals, and alloys can be found in convenient reference-form arrangement in the following works: Metals Handbook, 9th ed., 17 vol. (1978–89), a massive and detailed source prepared under the direction of the American Society for Metals, with a 10th edition that began publication in 1990; Herman F. Mark et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd ed., 31 vol. (1978–84), formerly known as Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, with a 4th edition begun in 1991; and its European counterpart, the first English-language edition of a monumental German work, Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 5th, completely rev. ed., edited by Wolfgang Gerhartz et al. (1985– ). Ed.Matthew J. Donachie, Jr. (ed.), Titanium: A Technical Guide (1988), offers an excellent engineering review of the metallurgy and fabrication of titanium metal. A more scientific review of mechanical and physical properties is presented in E.W. Collings, The Physical Metallurgy of Titanium Alloys (1984). Most comprehensive collections of technical articles on titanium and its alloys are found in the proceedings of international conferences on the subject, such as P. Lacombe, R. Tricot, and G. Beranger (eds.), Sixth World Conference on Titanium, 4 vol. (1989). For examinations of titanium applications, see Daniel Eylon (ed.), Titanium for Energy and Industrial Applications (1981); Designing with Titanium: Proceedings of the International Conference (1986); and F.H. Froes, Daniel Eylon, and H.V. Bomberger (eds.), Titanium Technology: Present Status and Future Trends (1985). The U.S. Bureau of Mines publishes Titanium (quarterly), a survey with additional data on supply and demand of all titanium products, including ores and pigments.Stan R. Seagle

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