An Innovative Process for Production of Ti Metal Powder via TiSx from TiN

This work presents a new processing concept for production of Ti metal powder from FeTiO(3)via TiN and TiSx. Because FeTiO3 can be converted to TiN by the carbothermal reduction and nitridation method, TiN was taken as the starting material. Ti2.45S4 and TiS2 powders were completely formed from TiN at 1473 K (1200 degrees C) in 3.6 and 10.8 ks, respectively. Either CS2 or S-2 gas could be used for the sulfurization process. The sulfides were then converted to alpha-Ti metal powders by the Ono and Suzuki (OS) process in molten CaCl2 with a small addition of CaS. Employing S-2 gas in the sulfurization step remarkably reduced the carbon contamination to 0.01 and 0.1 wt pct C after the sulfurization and reduction processes, respectively. alpha-Ti powders with spherical morphology and foil-like Ti sheets containing less than 0.15 wt pct O were obtained from the electrochemical reduction in molten CaCl2-0.5 mol pct CaS. The approach applied here offers a promising strategy to design an innovative process for production of commercial grade Ti powders via TiSx and TiN from FeTiO3 by nitridation, sulfurization, and OS processes.