The possibility of direct reduction of TiO
2 by molten magnesium has been investigated using TiO
2 single crystals and powders. First, reduction experiments were carried out using TiO
2 single crystals at 1173 K for up to 8 h, resulting in formation of two layers consisting of oxide phases with different Mg and Ti concentrations between magnesium and TiO
2, in which layers TiO
2 was reduced only to TiO
0.5 as a maximum and there was no metallic titanium obtained. The thicknesses of both the oxide layers increased according to the parabolic rate law, and Mg is reported to have diffusivity greater than the others, suggesting that the reduction rate of TiO
2 is controlled by the diffusion of Mg across the oxide layers. Second, reduction experiments were carried out using TiO
2 powers having 45 and 100 μm diameters at 1173 K for up to 48 h, resulting in reduction of TiO
2 to form metallic titanium, TiO
0.5 and TiO, indicating the effect of change in figuration of TiO
2 from single crystal to powder. However, difference in powder size did not appear in the degree of reduction presumably due to sintering effect during reduction. Finally, reduction experiments were carried out using TiO
2 powers having 45 μm diameters with additions of MgCl
2 at 1173 K for 30 h because MgCl
2 is miscible with MgO. TiO
2 was reduced to form only metallic titanium and TiO
0.5, without TiO remaining as titanium oxide, suggesting the removal effect of MgO by MgCl
2 which may allow continuous reduction on the TiO
2 surface. Consequently, it has been found that additions of MgCl
2 are effective to promote reduction of TiO
2 by molten magnesium.
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