Fundamental study on synthesis and enrichment of titanium subchloride

In order to establish a new high-speed/(semi-)continuous titanium production process based on the magnesiothermic reduction of titanium subchlorides (subhalide reduction process), a novel synthetic process for obtaining titanium subchlorides (TiClx, x=2, 3) by the reaction of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) with titanium metal at 1273 K was investigated. It was demonstrated that the efficiency of the TiClx formation improved drastically when molten salts were used as the reaction medium as compared with that of the synthesis by employing the direct reaction of TiCl4 gas with solid titanium. The feasibility of the enrichment process of TiClx in molten salt was also demonstrated. The method for producing the titanium subchlorides investigated in this study can be applied to the new high-speed production process of titanium. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.