Summary
Forecasts call for the utilization of titanium metal in commercial and defense aerospace as well as general industrial application to expand through the 1980s and beyond. The mineral primarily used in the manufacture of titanium is rutile, mined in mineral sands operations in several countries. Australian sand miners, the primary producers of rutile, indicate reserves are becoming increasingly more expensive to mine as they are becoming scarcer. Environmental considerations add further complications. However, there is an abundance of other titanium ores containing ilmenite, leucoxene, and titaniferous magnetites which may be upgraded by a multitude of techniques to generate raw material acceptable for metal production. Some of these methods in varying stages of commercialization are being used to produce a synthetic rutile wholly acceptable as feedstock for the manufacture of titanium metal.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
G. J. Dooley III, “Titanium Production: Ilmenite vs. Rutile,” J. Metals, 27(3) (1975), pp. 8–16.
Langtry E. Lynd, “Titanium,” Mineral Commodity Profiles, 1983, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Langtry E. Lynd, “Titanium in 1982,” Mineral Industry Surveys, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Company’s published specifications, 1981.
H. M. Harris, A. W. Henderson, and T. T. Campbell, “Ilmenite Chlorination in Fluidized Coke Beds,” Preprint A73-20, Symp., The Metallurgical Society of AIME, Chicago, Ill., February 26–28, 1973.
D. J. Swinden and D. G. Jones, “Arc-Furnace Smelting of Western Australian Beach Sand Ilmenite,” Australian Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, June 1978.
QIT — Fer et Titane Inc., Published Specifications, 1984.
Columbia-Southern Chemical Corporation, “Treatment of Ores,” British Patent No. 795,164, May 1958.
H. N. Sinha and D. M. Waugh, “A Process for the Beneficiation of Titaniferous Ores,” British Patent No. 1, 255,826, March 24, 1971.
Laporte Industries, Ltd., British Patent 1,392,441, 1975.
Benelite Corporation of America, U.S. Patent 3,825,419, 1974.
Shigeki Yamada, “Ilmenite Beneficiation and its Implications for Titanium Dioxide Manufacture,” Industrial Minerals, January 1976, pp. 33–40.
Ching-lung Lo and Thomas S. Mackay, U.S. Patent 3,193,376, July 6, 1965.
Thomas S. Mackay, “Alteration and Recovery of Ilmenite and Rutile,” Australian Mining, November 1972, pp. 18–44.
Robert C. Becher, Australian Patent No. 247110, September 16, 1963.
Private communication, Peter Cassidy, Associated Minerals Consolidated, December 1981.
Chyn Duog Shiah, “A Process for Producing Titanium Dioxide Concentrate and other Useful Products from Ilmenite and Similar Ores,” U.S. Patent No. 3,252,787, May 24, 1966.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kahn, J.A. Non-Rutile Feedstocks for the Production of Titanium. JOM 36, 33–38 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03338498
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03338498