Development of deoxidation process for off-grade titanium sponge using magnesium metal with wire mesh strainer type of crucible
Sung-Hun Park, Hyeong-Jun Jeoung, Tae-Hyuk Lee, Ho‐Sang Sohn, Jungshin Kang
Abstract
Abstract In this study, the deoxidation process for off-grade titanium (Ti) sponge using magnesium (Mg) metal with a wire mesh strainer type of crucible was developed. Ti hydride (TiH 2 ) feedstock, which was prepared by hydrogenating off-grade Ti sponge, was deoxidized using Mg in a molten magnesium chloride–potassium chloride salt at 933 K under an argon and 20% hydrogen (H 2 ) mixed gas atmosphere. After deoxidation, the residual Mg-containing salt was separated in situ from the crucible to investigate the feasibility of minimizing salt loss during the leaching and production of pure TiH 2 . The results showed that the presence of residual Mg-containing salt inside the crucible strongly influenced whether a mixture of Ti and TiH 2 or pure TiH 2 was produced. When the salt was not sufficiently separated, a mixture of Ti and TiH 2 was obtained and its oxygen (O) concentration was 0.121 mass% under certain conditions. Meanwhile, pure TiH 2 was obtained by increasing the H 2 gas flow rate during deoxidation. Therefore, these results demonstrate that the decrease of O concentration to below 0.180 mass% and the minimal loss of the salt are feasible.