The cost-effective
titanium powder is manufactured by (a)
magnesium-thermic reduction of
titanium chlorides characterized by the formation of a hollow block of the reaction
mass having an
open cavity in the center of the block, (b) thermal-vacuum separation of the hollow block from excessive Mg and MgCl2 at 850-950° C. and
residual pressure of 10<-2>-10<-3 >mm Hg, (c) cooling of obtained
titanium hollow block in a H2-contained
atmosphere at an excessive
hydrogen pressure, (d) crushing the hydrogenated titanium block, (e)
grinding the crushed titanium pieces into the
powder combined with a hydro-metallurgical treatment of obtained
titanium powder in a diluted
aqueous solution of at least one
chloride selected from
magnesium chloride,
sodium chloride,
potassium chloride, or
titanium chloride, and (f)
drying and, optionally dehydrating the
titanium powder ground to a predetermined particle size. The formation of the hollow block of the reaction
mass with the
open cavity in the center of the block is carried out by accelerating the reaction
mass on the inside surface of the reactor. The hydro-metallurgical treatment of
titanium powder is carried out in the solutions having the total content of chlorides of 0.5-10 wt. %, at the
powder-to-solution weight ratio from 1:1 to 1:4. The cooling of the titanium hollow block in the
hydrogen-contained
atmosphere is carried out to the temperature of 550-450° C. at the excessive
hydrogen pressure of 0.2 bar or higher. The productivity of the innovative process is higher, the
energy consumption is lessened more than double, the duration of the
processing cycle is decreased by 3. The shorter time of high-temperature stages results in significant improvement of titanium powder quality because it prevents the oxidation and nitrogenation of the
metal. The powder dispersion is increased caused by porous and poorly sintered structure of the reaction mass. Cooling the block in the presence of hydrogen also increases the powder quality and the yield of
fine powder fractions during the hydro-metallurgical treatment.