Titan prices, occurrence, extraction and use

Titanium is a chemical element with the element symbol Ti and the atomic number 22. It belongs to the transition metals and is in the 4th subgroup (group 4) or titanium group in the periodic table. The metal is white-metallic, shiny, light, strong, flexible, corrosion and temperature resistant. It is therefore particularly suitable for applications that require high corrosion resistance, strength and low weight. Due to the complicated manufacturing process, titanium is ten times more expensive than conventional steel.

Titanium was discovered in 1791 in England by the clergyman and amateur chemist William Gregor in titanium iron. In 1795 the German chemist Heinrich Klaproth also discovered it in rutile ore and gave the element its current name - based on the Greek gods of the titans.

However, it was not until 1831 that Justus von Liebig succeeded in extracting metallic titanium from the ore. Pure titanium metal (99,9%) was first produced by Matthew A. Hunter in 1910 by heating titanium tetrachloride with sodium to 700 to 800 ° C in a steel bomb.

It was not until the 1940s that William Justin Kroll succeeded in using the Kroll process to develop titanium for commercial applications by introducing the large-scale reduction of titanium tetrachloride with magnesium.

occurrence

Titanium occurs in the earth's crust only in connection with oxygen as an oxide. It is by no means rare, with a content of 0,565% it ranks 9th in the element abundance in the continental crust. Usually it is only available in low concentrations.

Important minerals are:

• Ilmenite (Titanium Iron Ore), FeTiO3
• Leukoxen, a low-iron ilmenite
• Perovskite, CaTiO3
• Rutile, TiO2
• Titanite (Sphene), CaTi [SiO4] O
• Titanates such as barium titanate, (BaTiO3)
• Companion in iron ores.

The main deposits are in Australia, Scandinavia, North America, the Urals and Malaysia. In 2010, deposits were discovered in Paraguay, but their exploitation is only planned to date.

Meteorites can contain titanium. Titanium has also been detected in the sun and in stars of the spectral class M. There are also deposits on the Earth's moon. Rock samples from the Apollo 17 moon mission contained up to 12,1% TiO₂. There are considerations for asteroid mining.

It is also contained in coal ash, plants and in the human body.

Titanium production in thousand tons

Rank	Country	2003	2004	2005
1	Australia	1 300	2 110	2 230
2	South Africa	1 070	1 130	1 130
3	Canada	810	870	870
4	China	400	840	820
5	Norway	380	370	420

Recovery 

Pure titanium hardly occurs in the earth. Titanium is extracted from ilmenite or rutile. The manufacturing process used is very complex, which is reflected in the high price of titanium. In 2008, a ton of titanium sponge cost an average of 12.000 euros.

The manufacturing process has remained almost unchanged since the Kroll process was discovered. Usually based on ilmenite or rutile, enriched titanium dioxide is converted in the heat with chlorine and carbon to titanium (IV) chloride and carbon monoxide. Then the reduction to titanium takes place using liquid magnesium. To produce machinable alloys, the resulting titanium sponge has to be remelted in a vacuum arc furnace.

The largest producer of titanium and titanium alloys is VSMPO-AVISMA with headquarters in Verkhnyaya Salda or Yekaterinburg in the Urals, which has been indirectly owned by the Russian state since September 12, 2006 via the holding Rosoboronexport.

The purest titanium is obtained using the Van Arkel de Boer process.

Features 

When exposed to air, titanium forms an extremely resistant, oxidic protective layer that makes it corrosion-resistant in many media. The high strength with a relatively low density is remarkable. Above a temperature of 400 ° C, however, the strength properties decline quickly. Ultrapure titanium is ductile. At higher temperatures it becomes brittle very quickly due to the absorption of oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. It is also important to note the high reactivity of titanium with many media at elevated temperatures or increased pressure, if the passive layer cannot withstand chemical attack. Here the speed of reaction can increase up to the point of explosion. In pure oxygen at 25 ° C and 25 bar, titanium burns completely from a freshly cut edge to form titanium dioxide. Despite the passivation layer, it reacts with oxygen at temperatures above 880 ° C and with chlorine at temperatures above 550 ° C. Titanium also reacts (“burns”) with pure nitrogen, which must be taken into account, for example, when machining because of the heat generated.

Titanium is resistant to dilute sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, solutions containing chloride, cold nitric acid and most organic acids and bases such as sodium hydroxide. In contrast, it dissolves slowly in concentrated sulfuric acid, with the formation of violet titanium sulfate. Due to the risk of explosion, the operating conditions must be strictly observed when using chlorine gas.

The mechanical properties and the corrosive behavior can be considerably improved by adding mostly minor alloys of aluminum, vanadium, manganese, molybdenum, palladium, copper, zirconium and tin.

Titanium becomes superconducting below a temperature of 0,4 K.

Below 880 ° C, titanium is present in a hexagonal closest packing of spheres. A body-centered cubic lattice structure forms above 880 ° C.

titanium alloys 

Titanium alloys are often used according to the US standard ASTM Grade 1 to 35 characterizes. Grade 1 to 4 denote pure titanium of various degrees of purity.

Pure titanium has the material number 3.7034; the most economically important material used (also for turbocharger blades) Ti-6Al-4V (6% aluminum, 4% vanadium, ASTM:Grade 5) has the numbers 3.7165 (industrial application) and 3.7164 (aerospace applications).

Other important titanium alloys mainly used in the aerospace industry:

Nitinol (nickel-titanium) is a so-called shape memory alloy.

Usage 

Titanium is mainly used as a micro-alloy component for steel. It gives steel high toughness, strength and ductility even in concentrations of 0,01-0,1 percent by weight. In stainless steels, titanium prevents intergranular corrosion.

Titanium-based alloys are significantly more expensive than superalloys at around 45 € / kg. They are therefore only used for the highest requirements:

Applications in seawater and media containing chloride

• Ship propeller parts such as shafts and bracing for maritime applications
• Built-in parts in seawater desalination plants
• Components for the evaporation of potassium chloride solutions
• Anodes of HVDC submarine cable transmissions
• Apparatus in chlorine chemistry plants

Outdoor and sporting goods

• for high-quality bicycles in connection with aluminum and vanadium as frame material
• (Diving) knives with titanium or titanium alloy blades, as well as cutlery
• as tent pegs (high strength despite low weight)
• for golf clubs as a club head
• with tennis rackets in the frame
• in stick shooting as an extremely stable stick with the ice stick stick
• as a particularly light ice screw for mountaineering
• as a lacrosse shaft for greater strength and lower weight
• as a firm leader when fishing for predatory fish with sharp teeth

Use in the form of compounds

• Manufacture of relatively soft artificial gemstones
• Titanium-doped sapphire single crystals serve as the active medium in the titanium-sapphire laser for ultra-short pulses in the femtosecond range
• as titanium tetrachloride for the production of glass mirrors and artificial fog
• Formation of intermetallic phases (Ni₃Ti) in high-temperature nickel alloys
• superconducting niobium-titanium alloys (e.g. as superconducting cables in electromagnets from HERA at DESY)
• in pyrotechnics
• Over 90% of the titanium ore production is mainly processed into titanium dioxide using the chloride and, to a lesser extent, the sulphate process.
• as titanium titrits for coatings of indexable inserts and milling cutters in production technology

Titanium's connections

with boron, carbon or nitrogen are used as hard materials. Titanium compounds are also used to manufacture cermets, composite materials made from ceramic and metal.

construction parts

• Wear parts in soldering systems, direct contact with electric solder up to 500 ° C
• Springs in vehicle chassis
• in aircraft and spaceships for particularly stressed parts that still have to be light (outer skin at supersonic speeds, compressor blades and other engine parts)
• in steam turbines for the most heavily loaded blades of the low-pressure part
• in armor: some submarine types of the former Soviet Union had pressure hulls made of a titanium alloy (e.g. Mike class, Alfa class, Papa class or Sierra class). In addition, titanium is used more often in military aviation than in civil aviation. As a result, at the height of Soviet armaments production, a large part of the titanium mined worldwide was both produced in Russia and rebuilt.
• because of its low density in the production of level indicators and floats

Medicine

• As a biomaterial for implants in medical technology and dentistry (dental implants, approx. 200.000 pieces annually in Germany alone) because of its very good corrosion resistance in contrast to other metals. There is no immunological rejection reaction (implant allergy). It is also used for dental crowns and dental bridges because of its significantly lower cost compared to gold alloys. In surgical orthopedics for metallic leg prostheses (hip joint prostheses) and femoral head replacements, knee joint replacements after osteoarthritis, it is used en masse. The titanium oxide layer enables bones to grow firmly onto the implant (osseointegration) and thus enables the artificial implant to be permanently installed in the human body.
• In middle ear surgery, titanium is the preferred material for auditory ossicle prostheses and tympanostomy tubes.
• In neurosurgery, titanium clips (for aneurysm operations) have largely replaced clips made of stainless steel because of their more favorable NMR properties.

Electronics

• In 2002, Nokia launched the 8910 mobile phone and a year later the 8910i mobile phone, which have a titanium case.
• In April 2002 Apple Inc. brought the "PowerBook G4 Titanium" notebook onto the market. Large parts of the case were made of titanium and the 15,2 "screen version with a thickness of 1" weighed only 2,4 kg.
• Some notebooks of the ThinkPad series from Lenovo (formerly IBM) have a titanium-reinforced plastic housing or a housing frame made of a titanium-magnesium composite.

Other applications

• Jewelry, watches and glasses frames made of titanium
• Coins with a titanium core (e.g. Austrian 200 Schilling coins)
• Titanium sublimation pump for generating ultra-high vacuum
• Electroplating as a support frame for the anodic oxidation of aluminum (ELOXAL)
• As part of the bullet-resistant vests standardized according to CRISAT

proof 

TiO²⁺ forms a characteristic yellow-orange complex with hydrogen peroxide (triaquohydroxooxotitan (IV) complex), which is also suitable for photospectrometric detection.

Norms

Titanium and titanium alloys are standardized in:

• DIN 17850, Edition: 1990-11 Titanium; chemical composition
• ASTM B 348: Standard Specification for Titanium and Titanium Alloy, Bars and Billets
• ASTM B 265: Standard Specification for Titanium and Titanium Alloy, Sheets and Plates
• ASTM F 67: Standard Specification for Unalloyed Titanium, for Surgical Implant Applications
• ASTM F 136: Standard Specification for Wrought Titanium-6Aluminum-4Vanadium ELI (Extra Low Interstitial) Alloy for Surgical Implant Applications
• ASTM B 338: Standard Specification for Seamless and Welded Titanium and Titanium Alloy Tubes for Condensers and Heat Exchangers
• ASTM B 337: Specification for Seamless and Welded Titanium and Titanium Alloy Pipe

safety instructions

Titanium is flammable as a powder, and compactly harmless. Most titanium salts are considered harmless. Inconsistent compounds such as titanium trichloride are highly corrosive as they form hydrochloric acid with traces of water.

Titanium tetrachloride is used in smoke candles and smoke grenades; it reacts with the humidity and forms a white smoke from titanium dioxide, as well as hydrochloric acid mist.

Biological disadvantages of titanium in the human body are currently unknown. Thus, the titanium-made hip joints or jaw implants, unlike nickel, caused no allergies.

Connections

While metallic titanium is only reserved for demanding technical applications due to its high manufacturing costs, the relatively inexpensive and non-toxic color pigment titanium dioxide has become a companion in everyday life. Practically all white plastics and paints today, including food colors, contain titanium dioxide (it can be found in food as E 171). However, titanium compounds are also used in electrical engineering and materials technology and, more recently, in the manufacture of high-performance batteries for vehicle propulsion (lithium titanate batteries).

• Barium titanate, BaTiO₃
• lithium titanate
• Titanium (III) chloride, TiCl₃
• Titanium boride, TiB
• Titanium carbide, TiC
• Titanium nitride, TiN
• Titanium (IV) chloride, TiCl₄
• Titanium (II) oxide TiO
• Titanium (III) oxide Ti₂O₃
• Titanium (IV) oxide (titanium white), TiO₂
• Titanium suboxides with a composition from TiO to Ti₂O
• Titanium (IV) oxide sulphate (titanyl sulphate), TiOSO₄
• ferrotitanium
• Nitinol, a memory metal
• Titanium hydride, TiH₂

General
Name, symbol, atomic number	Titanium, Ti, 22
Series	Transition metals
Group, period, block	4, 4, d
Appearance	silvery metallic
CAS number	7440-32-6
Mass fraction of the earth shell	0,41%
Atomic
atomic mass	47,867 u
Atomic radius (calculated)	140 (176) pm
Covalent radius	160 pm
electron configuration	[Ar] 3d2 4s2
work function	4,33 eV
1. ionization	658,8 kJ / mol
2. ionization	1309,8 kJ / mol
3. ionization	2652,5 kJ / mol
4. ionization	4174,6 kJ / mol
Physically
Physical state	fixed
crystal structure	hexagonal (up to 882 ° C, above short)
density	4,50 g / cm3 (25 ° C)
Mohs hardness	6
magnetism	paramagnetic ( = 1,8 10−4)
melting point	1941 K (1668 ° C)
boiling point	3560 K (3287 ° C)
Molar volume	10,64 · 10−6 m3/ mol
Heat of vaporization	425 kJ / mol
heat of fusion	18,7 kJ / mol
speed of sound	4140 m / s at 293,15 K
Specific heat capacity	523 J / (kg K)
Electric conductivity	2,5 · 106 A / (V · m)
thermal conductivity	22 W / (m K)
mechanisch
Modulus	105 GPa (= 105 kN / mm2)
Poisson	0,34
Chemical
oxidation states	+ 2, + 3, +4
Oxides (basicity)	TiO2 (Amphoteric)
normal potential	−0,86 V (TiO2+ + 2 H.+ + 4 e- → Ti + H2O)
electronegativity	1,54 (Pauling scale)
isotope
isotope NH t1/2 ZA ZE (MeV) ZP 44Ti {Syn.} 49 a ε 0,268 44Sc 45Ti {Syn.} 184,8 min ε 2,062 45Sc 46Ti 8,0% Sturdy 47Ti 7,3% Sturdy 48Ti 73,8 % Sturdy 49Ti 5,5% Sturdy 50Ti 5,4% Sturdy 51Ti {Syn.} 5,76 min β- 2,471 51V 52Ti {Syn.} 1,7 min β- 1,973 52V
NMR properties
Spin γ in rad * T−1· s−1 Er(1H) fL consider W = 4,7 T in MHz 47Ti -5 / 2 1,508 · 107 0,00209 11,3 49Ti -7 / 2 1,508 · 107 0,00376 11,3
safety instructions
GHS hazardous substances labeling powder

Hazard H and P phrases H: 250EUH: no EUH ratesP: 222- 231- 422 Hazardous substance labeling (powder)powder

Light- flammable	lovely
(F)	(Xi)

R- und S-SätzeR: 17-36/37/38S: 26 (Pulver)

Titan prices

Titan price -> prices for strategic metals