Production of Titanium Hydride Powder from Titanium Tetrachloride Using Magnesium Metal in Hydrogen Gas Atmosphere

Abstract

The development of titanium (Ti) powder production process is important because Ti powder metallurgy (PM) is a promising method that can result in large cost savings by reducing material loss and the number of steps in the conventional manufacturing process of Ti metal and its alloys. This study investigated the process of producing Ti hydride powder directly from titanium tetrachloride (TiCl₄) using magnesium (Mg) metal and hydrogen gas (H₂). The experiments were conducted at 1073–1173 K when the TiCl₄ feeding rate was in the range of 19.16–57.42 g·min⁻¹ with the use of cooling gas as Ar or H₂ gas. A mixture of Ti and Ti hydride (TiH_1.5) was obtained in an iron (Fe) crucible by the dehydrogenation of Ti hydride as the TiCl₄ reduction proceeded. The concentration of oxygen (O) decreased with a decrease in the specific surface area and/or an increase in the proportion of TiH_1.5 in the powder. As a result, the concentration of O of the mixture of Ti and TiH_1.5 decreased to 0.116 mass% under a certain condition.