At present, the unique physical properties of titanium make the extraction, smelting and processing of titanium metal very difficult. The raw material sponge titanium used for the production of titanium ingots is the sponge-like pure titanium extracted from titanium ore. The production of sponge titanium is mainly based on the Krauer method, which requires mining, beneficiation, enrichment, chlorination, magnesium reduction and other links, which requires a lot of power consumption, not only high production interest, but also refining technology requirements. Also very harsh. Therefore, there are only a few countries in the world that master related technologies. At present, there are only two enterprises in China, Zunyi Titanium Factory and Fushun Titanium Factory, which can produce. After the sponge titanium is cast into a titanium ingot, the sponge titanium needs to be vacuum arc remelted for deformation treatment and mechanical processing, and made into the final titanium material and titanium equipment, and then it can be used in aviation, aerospace and other fields.
Coupled with low thermal conductivity and good high temperature and low temperature resistance, the commercial application of titanium began in the 1950s. Because titanium has the characteristics of high melting point and small specific gravity. Strong corrosion resistance, etc., it was first used in high-tech fields such as aviation and aerospace, and it is one of the metals with important strategic significance. Now its application field has gradually expanded to chemical, petroleum, electric power, seawater desalination, construction, daily utensils and other industries. It is known as "modern metal" third metal" and "strategic metal" due to the many excellent properties of titanium, All countries regard titanium as an indispensable metal structure material for improving the level of national defense equipment. At the same time, titanium smelting technology is complex, difficult to process, and has high technical content. So far, the world's only four countries have the United States, Russia, Japan, and the middle. It has developed a complete industrial production technology of titanium sheet metal.
Among them, China, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Ukraine and other countries are widely distributed. The country's titanium resource reserves account for about 45% of the world's, and the world's titanium reserves are relatively abundant. It ranks first in the world and is mainly distributed in Panzhihua area of Sichuan, Hebei (mainly Chengde area) Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Yunnan. However, the titanium ore in my country is mainly vanadium-titanium magneto-titanium, and the proportion of high-grade rutile is small. Due to the low grade, the comprehensive recovery rate of national titanium resources is very low, the mining interest is high, and it causes serious environmental pollution. While Australia, South Africa, Ukraine and other countries have a relatively high proportion of rutile ore in titanium resources, the mining interest is relatively low.
More than 90% of the world's titanium resources are used for titanium dioxide (titanium dioxide) production every year. Titanium dioxide is currently used due to its good refractive index and tinting strength. It is widely used in the production of various paints and inks, and has become an important fine chemical raw material. In addition, titanium dioxide is also an important additive in industries such as paper, plastic and rubber.
