Fundamental study on synthesis and enrichment of titanium subchloride

In order to establish a new high-speed/(semi-)continuous titanium production process based on the magnesiothermic reduction of titanium subchlorides (subhalide reduction process), a novel synthetic process for obtaining titanium subchlorides (TiCl x , x = 2, 3) by the reaction of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl 4 ) with titanium metal at 1273 K was investigated. It was demonstrated that the efficiency of the TiCl x formation improved drastically when molten salts were used as the reaction medium as compared with that of the synthesis by employing the direct reaction of TiCl 4 gas with solid titanium. The feasibility of the enrichment process of TiCl x in molten salt was also demonstrated. The method for producing the titanium subchlorides investigated in this study can be applied to the new high-speed production process of titanium.