Currently, there are only two industrial methods: HDH method and sodium method. However, the sodium titanium plant has been closed for a long time, so far only the HDH method is still used for industrial production. The centrifugal atomization method and the gas atomization method are mainly used to produce (spherical titanium powder or) spherical titanium alloy powder, but the production volume is not large and can be considered as mass production. The various production methods are summarized below.
In the magnesium tetrachloride reduction process, you will always get a by-product, such as titanium powder. This titanium powder accounts for a few percent of sponge titanium products, and its amount is considerable. Titanium powder with a particle size of less than 0.83mm can be directly used. The titanium sponge produced by the magnesium reduction-vacuum distillation process suffers from a long period of high-temperature sintering, and the titanium alloy powder has poor quality, and the proportion is relatively small. Therefore, the titanium-magnesium tetrachloride reduction method is not a good method for preparing titanium powder, and only obtains by-products such as titanium alloy powder.
Grinding is a key step in the production of powdered titanium by the sodium reduction method. The sodium reduction product is a mixture of metallic titanium and NaCl. On the surface of gold and sodium—a very covering—layer of NaCl. During the grinding process, titanium will not be contaminated by impurities. Most of the heat generated during grinding is absorbed by NaCl and will not cause Titanium is overheated and catches fire, which can avoid product oxidation. In addition, NaCl can also promote the crushing of titanium, which acts as a crushing medium. Various grinding machines can be used as the grinding equipment.
The process of leaching, washing and drying is basically the same as the process of producing titanium sponge. Because the powdered titanium has greater activity, the acid concentration in the leaching solution should be smaller. Generally, 0.5% -1.0% hydrochloric acid concentration aqueous solution can be used for leaching. The temperature should be kept as low as possible during drying, and at the same time prevent fire.