Recently, the University of Tokyo researchers made an important breakthrough, they developed a new method, can greatly reduce the cost of production of low-oxygen high-purity titanium. This research result not only introduces this cost-effective method, but also reveals the scientific principles and technical challenges behind it.
It is reported that the researchers succeeded in reducing the oxygen content in titanium to 0.02% by using the rare earth metal yttrium. This breakthrough has enabled titanium to be used in a wider range of industrial applications. However, to fully realize the more potential applications of titanium alloys in manufacturing, yttrium, which is present in up to 1% of the material's composition, has become an urgent challenge.
Products made from pure titanium are uncommon due to the high cost of removing oxygen from titanium ore. The cost of removing oxygen is one of the key factors affecting the widespread use of titanium. Reducing this cost would effectively promote wider utilization of the advantages of titanium products by manufacturers in the manufacture of their products.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science have published a study in Nature Communications detailing their new approach to reducing the cost of producing almost completely oxygen-free high-purity titanium. This research not only benefits technological development, but also has a positive impact on environmental sustainability.
However, the cost of producing ultra-pure titanium is much higher than manufacturing steel (ferroalloys) and aluminum. The process of preparing high-purity titanium consumes large amounts of energy and resources. As a result, researchers have been working to develop an inexpensive and simple method to prepare high-purity titanium to facilitate the development of products for use by industry and ordinary consumers.
In this study, the researchers used an innovative technology based on rare earth metals to remove oxygen from titanium. They ended up with a low-cost, solid-state, deoxidized titanium alloy by reacting molten titanium with the metals yttrium and yttrium trifluoride or similar substances. In addition, the reacted yttrium can be recycled, further reducing production costs.
Toru H. Okabe, lead author of the study, explains, "Iron and aluminum metals are produced in large quantities industrially, but the production of titanium is limited because of the high cost of removing oxygen from the ore. This innovative technology we used, based on rare earth metals, can remove oxygen from titanium to 0.02 percent per unit mass."
A key step in this research was reacting molten titanium with a specific reactive substance. The researchers found that this method is not only inexpensive, but also simple. What's more, even titanium scrap containing large amounts of oxygen can be processed in this way.
We are excited about the versatility of the experimental scheme," said Toru H. Okabe. The elimination of intermediate compounds and the simple procedure will contribute to its industrial application." Despite the important progress made in this research, there is a limitation: the deoxidized titanium obtained contains yttrium with a mass of up to 1 percent. The presence of yttrium may affect the mechanical and chemical properties of titanium alloys. Therefore, the researchers need to further address the issue of yttrium contamination to ensure the widespread use of titanium products in industrial manufacturing.
Overall, this new method developed by researchers at the University of Tokyo is an important step towards more efficient utilization of high-purity titanium. As technology continues to advance and costs are further reduced, titanium will play an even more important role in the future.
