Patent ID: 6136060
Filing Date: 2000-10-24
Classification: C22B,C22C,Y02P

Abstract:
A process for the production of titanium metal and alloys thereof comprising:processing titanium containing ore to form essentially pure titanium tetrachloride,said processing step including the steps of:a. chlorinating the titanium bearing ore to form a titanium tetrachloride mixture containing as impurities at least iron chloride, vanadium and silicon chloride,b. condensing and separating the mixture to remove the iron chloride to form a crude titanium tetrachloride mixture,c. removing the vanadium present in the mixture,d. distilling the resultant titanium tetrachloride to remove the silicon chloride to form a titanium tetrachloride material having less than about four parts per billion of impurities,reacting the titanium tetrachloride material with molten sodium while heating with plasma arc heaters to reduce the titanium tetrachloride material to molten titanium metal,processing the thus produced molten titanium metal under controlled atmospheric conditions to effect outgassing of the molten titanium metal,said processing of the molten titanium metal including a first and second processing phase at elevated temperature and separate levels of vacuum,said second phase being conducted at a vacuum level below that of the first phase and optionally including the step of alloying the molten titanium metal to form a titanium-vanadium alloy, andrecovering essentially the essentially pure titanium metal or alloy.