As a kind of expensive matel , titanium offers comprehensive corrosion resistance to wide kind of medium. So, it is very popular in the chemical machinery industry, especially for reactor producing.

We would like to offer a as much comprehensive as possible introduction to the Titanium from its discovery history to the modern usages. Hope this blog could help you know this kind of metal better.

I, The discovery of Titanium

1.1 Who Discovered Titanium/where is titanium found

1.2 Titanium ore

II, Titanium element

III, Titanium metal

3.1 Titanium metal properties

3.2 Titanium advantages and its applications

3.3 Production methods for titanium metal

3.4 Titanium cost

3.5 Titanium metal price

IV, Titanium Alloys

4.1 Definition

4.2 Ti-6Al-4V

4.3 Titanium Alloy Advantages

4.4 Applications of Titanium alloys

4.5 Food-Grade Titanium Alloy Models

V, Important Compounds of Titanium and Their Uses

5.1 Titanium Dioxide and its 6 applications

5.2 Titanic acid

5.3 Lithium titanate

5.4 Titanium tetrachloride

5.5 Titanium trichloride (TiCl3).

5.6 Titanium carbide (TiC)

5.7 Titanium hydride (TiH2)

5.8 Barium titanate (BaTiO3)

5.9 Titanium nitride (TiN)

5.10 Titanium trifluoride (TiF3)

VI,Titanium vs. Other metals

6.1 Titanium vs. Zirconium

6.2 Titanium vs. Hastelloy

VII,Titanium equipment in the chemical industry applications

7.1 Fertilizer industry

7.2 Chlor-alkali industry

7.3 Synthetic fiber industry

7.4 Dye chemical and pesticide production

7.5 Others

I, The discovery of Titanium

1.1 Who Discovered Titanium/where is titanium found

Titanium was discovered as a titanium-bearing mineral in Cornwall, England in 1791 by Reverend William Gregor, an English amateur mineralogist.

1.2 Titanium ore

The ores of titanium are ilmenite and rutile, which are widely distributed in the earth's crust and lithosphere.
Photo of Titanium ore

1.2.1 Rutile

Natural rutile (TiO2) is dark red, dark brown, or even black due to impurities. It is close to pure titanium dioxide, containing more than 95% titanium dioxide.

1.2.2 Ilmenite

It is also known as titanomagnetite, is 52.66% TiO2 and is the main mineral from which titanium and titanium dioxide are extracted.

II, Titanium element

Titanium is a metallic chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ti and atomic number 22, located in Period 4, Group IVB in the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.

Titanium electronic configuration is 1s²2s²2p⁶3s²3p⁶3d²4s² ([Ar]3d²4s²).
Photo of Titanium element description

Titanium monomers have two isomers: α-Ti and β-Ti.

α-Ti is a hexagonal crystal system with hexagonal dense packing of atoms and 74% atomic space utilization.

β-Ti is a cubic lattice with body-centered cubic dense packing of atoms and 68% atomic space utilization.

III, Titanium metal

3.1 Titanium metal properties

Titanium metal has a metallic, hexagonal crystal structure.

Density of titanium: 4.507 g/cm³
Boiling point: 3287°C
Melting point: 1668°C
Molar mass: 48 g/mol
Color: silver-white
The propagation rate: 5090 m/s.

Special Note:

Titanium cannot be used in dry chlorine gas. Even dry chlorine gas at a temperature of less than 0°C will undergo a violent chemical reaction to form titanium tetrachloride, which then decomposes to titanium dichloride, or burns. Titanium can only maintain stability when the water content of chlorine gas is over 0.5%.

3.2 Titanium advantages and its applications

3.2.1 Good mechanical property

3.2.1.1 Low density

Titanium is almost half the density of steel, the same as aluminum) but high mechanical strength.

3.2.1.2 Sturdy

Titanium's mechanical strength is 3 times of aluminum, 6 times of magnesium, and almost no metal fatigue phenomenon.

3.2.1.3 Superconductor

The Conductivity and heat transfer of titanium is good. Titanium is nonmagnetic. It can become a superconductor at a low temperature of -272.74 ℃.

photo of submarine made from titanium metal

Pure titanium metal can withstand high pressure, so submarines made from titanium can navigate as deep as 4500 meters in the sea.
Because titanium is non-magnetic, the submarines made of it will not be detected by magnetic mines.

3.2.1.4 Strong Anti-damping

Compared with steel and copper metal, Titanium has the longest decay time of its own vibration after being subjected to mechanical and electrical vibration.

The titanium can be used as tuning forks, medical ultrasonic pulverizer vibration components, and high-level audio speakers vibration film.

3.2.1.5 High yield strength

Titanium's yield strength is higher than steel and 2 times greater than aluminum. Titanium's specific strength is higher than aluminum and steel, and its specific modulus is very close to aluminum and steel.

Titanium is widely used to replace steel in the universe rocket and missile.

Titanium has a large ratio of yield limit to the modulus of elasticity, which gives titanium a large ability to spring back when molded, so it is called a memory metal.

3.2.1.6 Metallurgical practicality

Liquid titanium can dissolve almost all metals, so it can be formed into alloys with a wide range of metals.

3.2.1.7 Good temperature resistance

Titanium can maintain high strength and wear resistance at -253 ℃ to 500 ℃.

Because of its excellent heat and cold resistance, titanium alloy has gradually replaced aluminum alloys and steel in aircraft manufacturing, missiles, rockets, satellites, spaceships, and others.

3.2.1.8 Good ductility

Pure metal has good plasticity and can be pressed and drawn, but it becomes hard and brittle when there are impurities.

3.2.1.9 Good corrosion resistance

Titanium can resist oxidizing media, chloride salt solution erosion, many acids, alkali solutions, seawater, and industrial corrosion atmosphere. Titanium will not be corroded in any concentration of nitric acid below the boiling point.

Titanium's corrosion resistance is generally better than stainless steel. It is 15 times higher than stainless steel, which means the service life is 15 times more than stainless steel.

Titanium and titanium alloys are good materials for the manufacture of marine vessels.

The chemical industry has always been the largest user of titanium processing materials, its use in the total use of titanium materials accounting for more than 50% has been maintained.
photo of chemical industial plants

3.2.1.10 High Chemical Activity

Titanium is chemically active and reacts strongly with O2, N2, H2, CO, CO2, water vapor, ammonia, etc. in the atmosphere.

Titanium metal at room temperature is not active, because its dioxide is stable and provent the titanium from reacting with air. So, titanium dioxide can be used in beauty, sunscreen, UV protection.

Titanium is easy to react with oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen and so on at high temperature. Adding a small amount of titanium-iron alloy in the steelmaking process can deoxidize, remove sulfur, remove nitrogen and improve the quality of steel.

Because the action of titanium with O2 and N2 is irreversible, titanium is a good gas absorber and is can be used in vacuum technology too.

3.2.1.11 Biophilic metal

In medicine, it can be used to replace damaged bones.

Titanium sheets and titanium screws are riveted to the damaged bone.
The old bone, new bone, and titanium sheets will grow closely together within a few months in the treatment of bone fractures.

So, it is used in the manufacture of medical implants, artificial joints, dental prosthetic materials, and other medical devices.

3.2.1.12 The superiority of using titanium in the chemical industry

Titanium alloys are used in the manufacture of reactors, distillation towers, and other equipment.

3.2.1.12.1 Long service life

Compared with chemical equipment made of traditional materials, chemical equipment made of titanium with excellent corrosion resistance can extend its service life by several times, dozens of times or even hundreds of times.

3.2.1.12.2 Cost

Design and manufacture of the same piece of equipment, the choice of titanium than with other materials, the cost is lower.

The density of titanium is about 56% of stainless steel, so the volume of material used is about half of stainless steel. Although the price of titanium is twice of stainless steel, the total cost of them is almost the same.
In addition, due to the high specific strength of titanium and good corrosion resistance, titanium has a smaller corrosion margin, and thus titanium equipment wall thickness is thinner.
For examples:
In the application of fabricating seawater coolers and condensers. If using aluminum brass and copper-nickel alloys, the tube wall thickness of 1.5 ~ 2.5 mm. However, the tube wall thickness of titanium is only 0.5 mm or even 0.3 mm.
In some tower applications, lined with a stainless steel thickness of 6 ~ 8 mm, while using titanium can be reduced to 3 ~ 5 mm or even 1 ~ 2 mm.

3.2.1.12.3 Energy cost saving

The driving power is must less when using titanium than steel for turbines, centrifuges, fans, pumps, and other general-purpose machinery. Besides titanium offers a better working performance and higher speeds.
Photo of turbines, fans, and pumps

3.2.1.12.4 High heat transfer efficiency

The heat transfer coefficient of titanium (15.24 w/(m -K)) is about the same as that of stainless steel (16.33 w/(m -K)), but much lower than that of copper (393.56 w/(m2 -K)).
The total heat transfer coefficient of the cooler and condenser depends on the heat transfer coefficient of the material and the wall thickness of the heat transfer tubes, as well as factors such as fouling.
Although the heat transfer coefficient of titanium is not high, its tube wall can be as thin as 0.3 ~ 0.5 mm. On the other aspect, the titanium cleanliness coefficient is higher than steel and copper tubes, whose surface is prone to corrosion products and deposition of dirt. So, the total heat transfer coefficient of titanium is very high.
In addition, titanium surface wettability is small, with droplet condensation characteristics, more favorable than membrane condensation. Coupled with the use of higher flow rates, the titanium heat exchanger's total heat transfer coefficient is similar to the copper heat exchanger.
Therefore, the coastal power plants and petrochemical companies condenser and cooler with titanium tubes instead of copper alloy.

The total heat transfer coefficient of the titanium heat exchanger is almost the same as it is made from copper.
Because of its other advantages, coastal power plants and petrochemical plants prefer to use titanium heat exchangers rather than use copper heat exchanger.

3.2.1.12.5 Improve product quality

The chemical equipment made from titanium has excellent corrosion resistance, which greatly reduces metal ion pollution.
For examples:
ᆞ Regarding the acetaldehyde oxidation of the acetic acid device, after applying titanium in the key tower, reboiler, cooler, etc., the rate of first-grade production of acetic acid is 100%.
ᆞ In a vacuum salt plant, the original utilization of steel equipment will produce insoluble iron oxide. And using copper equipment produces copper-green particles. The salt produced by them is only a third-grade product. But, when changing to titanium equipment, the salt becomes first-grade because of the absence of impurities.
The cooler for N-Phenylnaphthalen-2-amine production, the corrosion is serious if using a carbon steel cooler. There is no pollution if using a titanium cooler.
ᆞ In the pharmaceutical industry, because titanium can withstand hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, sulfuric acid, the acids' salts, and other media, the rate of first-class products has increased from 75% to 100%.
ᆞ In chlor-alkali production, graphite anode was used for electrolysis in the past, which affected the quality of caustic soda due to the pollution of graphite powder, and the quality of caustic soda was greatly improved after changing to titanium anode.

3.2.1.12.6 Reduce equipment maintenance costs

The maintenance of equipment made from carbon steel, stainless steel, copper alloy, graphite, and other traditional materials is very frequent due to strong corrosion caused by acid, alkali, salt, and other media.
If using titanium, the threat of unplanned stops and maintenance is greatly reduced because of its good corrosion resistance.
For example:
ᆞ Ethylene device seawater cooler:
The original use of lead brass tube, although the sacrificial anode and other protective measures, still repeatedly corrosion perforation, expansion leakage, often stop, resulting in unplanned maintenance. The average annual replacement of the whole copper cooler 3 to 5 times. The device will become semi-permanent equipment if change to titanium and save a lot of maintenance costs.
ᆞ Wet chlorine cooler:
After replacing graphite with titanium, the accidents have been reduced a lot.
ᆞ Ethylene oxide device:
The pipes and fittings were originally lined with PTFE, due to the poor lining process there are many cracked and damaged accidents. After changing to titanium pipe, the problem is completely solved.
ᆞ PTA devices:
The total titanium application on them has elimitated the corrosion, the devices could run stably.
Photo of cooler and PTA devices

3.2.1.12.7 Reduce material loss and increase production capacity

Titanium and titanium alloy have excellent comprehensive performance, so they become replacement materail of a stainless steel and nickel-based alloys in the modern chemical equipment manufacturing. Many of the current chemical products will not be able to achieve large-scale production without titanium.

For example:

ᆞ Refinery low-temperature light oil parts:

When crude oil with high-sulfur, corrosion is serious. In particular, the corrosion on top of the normal decompression tower and its condensing system of steel cooler is more serious, which cost a large amount of steel. Although the method of the "one off three injection" is applied, it still can not completely solve the problem. The use of austenitic stainless steel will produce stress corrosion; the use of copper-nickel alloy will produce sulfide; such as the use of titanium cooler, can eliminate all kinds of corrosion, not easy to scale, improve thermal conductivity, and strengthen the production.But if using titanium, the problem does not exist anymore.
equipment photo of oil industry

ᆞ PTA production by he Amoco method

It uses p-xylene as the raw material, acetic acid as the solvent, acetate as the catalyst, bromide as the accelerator, at 185 ~ 200 ℃, 1.1 MPa under the condition of oxidation reaction. Due to the bromide has a strong corrosive properties, at present, almost all of the stainless steel will soon be eroded. The only practical material that can cope with such a harsh environment is titanium.

Composite titanium pole with titanium tubes, titanium pole manufactured oxidation reactor, multiple condensers, reboiler, container, has been put into safe and stable operation of more petrochemical enterprises.

ᆞ Urea Production

It uses CO and liquid ammonia as raw materials. They react and generate ammonium carbamate at a certain temperature and pressure in the synthesis tower, they converte to urea.

The 316 L stainless steel as a synthetic tower lining, applicable to the full cycle of the method, and its synthetic temperature of 185 ℃, the pressure of 15 MPa, CO: Conversion Rate of 60%. If we continue to increase the synthesis temperature, the conversion rate can be further increased, but the 316L corrosion rate will also increase dramatically, the reaction temperature is thus limited.

So, people begin to use titanium lining for synthesis tower by improve Carbon method. The reaction temperature is up to 200 ℃, the pressure up to 25 MPa, CO conversion rate is 72%, thus greatly improving the yield of urea.

3.3 Production methods for titanium metal

The main production method for large-scale industrial is the TiCl4 magnesium thermal reduction-vacuum distillation method (referred to as the magnesium method or Crowell method).

The porous titanium sponge is an intermediate of TiCl4 by reduction when using molten magnesium in argon gas.
After crushing of titanium sponge and melting it into the vacuum arc furnace, it can be finally made into a variety of titanium materials.

3.4 Titanium cost

Titanium is very expensive to produce due to the following reasons:

3.4.1 Resource distribution

The resources of titanium are unevenly distributed, only a few countries are able to mine and produce this metal. These factors lead to very high production costs of titanium metal, which is one of the main reasons why titanium metal is so expensive.

3.4.2 Refining cost

The refining of titanium requires high-temperature and high-pressure production processes and special equipment technology.

3.4.3 Chemical reactivity of titanium

Titanium and titanium alloys have poor chemical reactivity with other materials at high temperatures. So, the melting and casting techniques of titanium alloys is very different from the traditional refining, which often damages the molds.

3.4.4 Mechnical difficulty

The subsequent processing of the metal is also very difficult. Titanium alloy is very hard to cut when its hardness is greater than HB350. While then hardness is less than HB300, it is prone to sticky, which is also an obstruction of cutting.
Titanium alloy machining photo

The above 4 reasons make the cost of titanium alloys much higher than that of other metals.

3.5 Titanium metal price

The price of titanium metal fluctuates roughly between 35,000-65,000 USD/ton.

The cost of titanium parts acceptable to the automotive industry is 8 to 13 USD/kg for connecting rod titanium, 13 to 20 USD/kg for valve titanium, and hopefully less than 8 USD/kg for springs, engine exhaust systems, and fasteners. It is 6 to 15 times that of aluminum sheet, and 45 to 83 times that of steel sheet.

Titanium metal is expensive, due to its unique application value, as well as by the cost of production market supply and demand, and so on.

The price of titanium metal may experience some fluctuations with the continuous development of various applications and production technologies of titanium metal. However, it seems the high price level of titanium will remain unchanged in the future.

IV, Titanium Alloys

4.1 Definition

Titanium alloys refer to a variety of alloy metals made from titanium and other metals.

4.2 Ti-6Al-4V

It is the first titanium alloy developed by the United States in 1954. Because of its good heat resistance, strength, plasticity, toughness, formability, weldability, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility, it become the kingpin alloy in the titanium alloy industry, with usage amount around 75% to 85% of all titanium alloys. Many other titanium alloys can be regarded as the modification of Ti-6Al-4V.

4.3 Titanium Alloy Advantages

4.3.1 High Strength

The high-strength titanium alloys exceed many alloy structural steels in strength. The specific strength (strength/density) of titanium alloys is much greater than that of other metal structural materials, so it can be produced as parts with high unit strength, good rigidity, and lightweight.

Titanium alloys are used for engine components, skeletons, skins, fasteners, and landing gears of airplanes.

4.3.2 High thermal strength

Titanium alloy service temperature is several hundred degrees higher than that of aluminum alloy. It could maintain the required strength under medium temperatures, and work for a long time under the temperature of 450～500℃.

4.3.3 Good corrosion resistance

Titanium alloy's corrosion resistance is far better than stainless steel in the humid atmosphere and seawater media work.

It has strong resistance against pitting, acid corrosion, stress corrosion, alkali, chloride, chlorine, organic items, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and so on. However, titanium alloy has poor corrosion resistance to reducing oxygen and chromium salt media.

4.3.4 Good performance under low temperature

Titanium alloy is able to maintain mechanical properties in low temperature and ultra-low temperature. The titanium alloy, such as TA7, that with good low-temperature performance and very low gap element can maintain plasticity at -253 ℃. Therefore, titanium alloy is also an important low-temperature structural material.

4.3.5 Low thermal elasticity

The thermal elasticity of titanium is about 1/4 of nickel, 1/5 of iron, and 1/14 of aluminum.

4.4 Applications of Titanium alloys

Some titanium alloys have sufficient toughness at -253℃, they are used to make containers for liquid gases (e.g. liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, liquid hydrogen, etc.).

Many titanium alloys maintain their performance not matter at room temperature or high temperatures. The general long-term use temperature of titanium alloys is 400 ~ 500 ℃, so they could be used in the production of aircraft engine compressor components, structural components for rockets, missiles and high-speed aircraft, satellites, lunar modules, manned spacecraft, and space shuttles.

Electrodes for the electrolysis industry.

Condensers for power stations.

Oil refining and desalination heaters and environmental pollution control devices.

Production of shape memory alloys.

4.5 Food-Grade Titanium Alloy Models

4.5.1 TC4ELI

TC4ELI is an α+β type titanium alloy containing 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium, which has very good mechanical properties and strong corrosion resistance. Its compressive strength is up to 1100MPa or more, and it is a commonly used material for medical devices and other high-demanding industries.

4.5.2 TC2

TC2 is a kind of α+β type titanium alloy containing 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium, with higher strength and hardness than TC4ELI, and also has good toughness and corrosion resistance. It is mainly used in food machinery, ship rudder wheels, aircraft brakes and other fields.

4.5.3 TA1

TA1 is a kind of α-type pure titanium alloy, with excellent ductility and plasticity, but also has good corrosion resistance. Thanks to its low price, it is widely used in various kinds of equipment in the food industry, such as food tanks, presses, boilers and so on.

4.5.4 TA2

TA2 is an α+β type of titanium alloy with excellent toughness, strength, and corrosion resistance. It has more advantages than pure titanium, so it is more and more widely used in the food industry.

V, Important Compounds of Titanium and Their Uses

5.1 Titanium Dioxide

The most common compound of titanium is titanium dioxide, which is used to make white pigments.
TiO2 is a polycrystalline oxide that has three crystalline forms: anatase, platinoid, and rutile. In nature, anatase and rutile exist as minerals, but it is difficult to find minerals of the platinoid type.

Industrially produced titanium dioxide, commonly known as titanium white, is an important white pigment.

Since titanium dioxide does not react with many other substances under normal circumstances, and has strong covering power and non-toxicity, it is an excellent white pigment. Its coverage is better than that of lead white [2PbCO3 Pb(OH)2], and its durability is better than that of zinc white (ZnO), and it is regarded as "the king of white pigment".

Applications

5.1.1 High-grade white paint.

5.1.2 Whitening agent in cosmetology.

Titanium dioxide is mainly to protect the skin and can prevent the penetration of ultraviolet rays to a certain extent.

5.1.3

Used as a filler in papermaking.

5.1.4

As a matting agent in man-made fibers.

5.1.5

It can also be used in hard titanium alloy, heat-resistant glass, and anti-ultraviolet glass, adding TiO2 in ceramics can enhance acid resistance.

5.1.6

Titanium dioxide can be used as catalysts.

Titanium dioxide and barium carbonate co-melt to form barium titanate (BaTiO3).

5.1.7

TiO2 can be chlorinated into TiCl4 by Cl2 when heated to 800~1000℃ in the presence of reducing agent C, which is the main method of industrial production of TiCl4.

5.1.8 Titanium Dioxide in Food

5.1.8.1 Is Titanium Dioxide Safe

Ti02 is an odorless, non-toxic white powder, and has been certified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA)

5.1.8.2 Application in food

Food Testing Institute as safe and harmless to humans.

Food-grade titanium dioxide, commonly known as albumin, is used as a coloring agent and food whitening agent, or pharmaceutical-grade titanium dioxide, a non-toxic, odorless, white powder.

Food: Applied to meat products, surimi products, candy, candy coating, jelly, chewing gum, baked goods, cheese, seasoning, non-sweetener type solid drinks, concentrated solid drinks, dairy drinks, and puffed food. Candied fruit, jam, salad dressing, mayonnaise, and other foods that need whitening.

In addition to the whitening effect, titanium dioxide can produce a softer color if used in combination with other pigments.

Titanium dioxide is used as a diluent in bread improver, Its purpose is to make the enzyme used in bread improver be evenly added to the flour, improve the dispersion of the product, can replace the diluent calcium carbonate (limestone), calcium sulfate (gypsum) and so on.

5.2 Titanic acid

Titanic acid refers to the hydrate of titanium dioxide. The two most important titanic acids are prototitanic acid and metatitanic acid.

Titanic acid is mainly used as chemical fiber matting agent, catalyst and seawater adsorbent. It is also the raw material for making pure titanium sulfate.

5.3 Lithium titanate

Chemical formula Li4Ti5O12

New Energy

The new lithium titanate is a "zero-tension" material, and used in the manufacture of large-scale energy storage, power lithium batteries.

The new lithium battery charge/discharge cycle can be more than thousands of times, so the battery can be used for at least 10 years.

5.4 Titanium tetrachloride

5.4.1 Property

Titanium tetrachloride is a colorless liquid with density of 1.726g/cm (at 20℃), melting point of 250K and boiling point of 409K. It has irritating odor and is easily hydrolyzed in water or humid air. Therefore, titanium tetrachloride fumes when exposed to air. It is generally produced from rutile and ilmenite. It is an important intermediate in the production of titanium.

5.4.2Applications:

5.4.2.1 Military

Titanium tetrachloride is material of smoke bomb.

5.4.2.2 Advertisement

It can be used commercially for aerial advertising.

5.4.2.3 Polymer synthesis.

Ziegler, a West German, invented in 1953 the use of TiCl4 and (C2H5)3Al as a catalyst for the successful directional polymerization of ethylene at atmospheric pressure, which was called Ziegler's catalyst.

In 1954, the Italian Natta improved Ziegler's invention and used TiCl4 and (C2H5)3Al as catalysts (called Ziegler-Natta catalysts), which was successfully applied to the directional polymerization of propylene and styrene.

5.4.2.4 Electronic components

Sintered bodies (ceramics) of tiny particles (several μm) of PbZr(1-x)TixO3 (known as PZT) are commonly used as "piezoelectrics" in ignition devices with high voltages of tens of thousands of volts.

5.4.2.5 Agriculture

Titanium tetrafluoride is used to protect against frost.

5.4.3 Storage

Pure TiCl4 is almost non-corrosive to iron at room temperature, so it can be used in steel and stainless steel to make storage tanks, high level tanks and other containers.

However, it corrodes steel above 200℃. It is found to have obvious interaction with iron when the temperature is higher than 850℃~900℃.

5.5 Titanium trichloride (TiCl3).

It is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula TiCl3, a purple crystalline powder, soluble in ethanol, acetonitrile, slightly soluble in chloroform, insoluble in ether and benzene.

TiCl3 can be used in organic chemistry to determine the content of nitro compounds.

Its aqueous solution can be used as a reducing agent.

Titanium trichloride can also be used as polypropylene catalyst.

5.6 Titanium carbide (TiC)

photo of TiC powder , equipment, semi product material

TiC is the hardest of the known carbides and is an important raw material for the production of cemented carbides.

Molten metallic titanium (1800~2400°C) can interact directly with Carbon to produce TiC. TiC is generally prepared industrially by reducing TiO2 with C under vacuum and high temperature (>1800°C).

WC- TiC alloys, WC + (WC-Mo2C-TiC) solid solution, TiC-TaC alloys, etc. are important high hardness, high wear-resistant cutting materials.

TiC is characterized by high thermal hardness, low coefficient of friction, low thermal conductivity, etc. Therefore, cutting tools containing TiC have higher cutting speed and longer service life.

Generally, WC tools with Titanium carbide coating have better cutting performance (coating of objects by reacting TiCl4 with CH4 under vacuum conditions at a high temperature of more than 1000°C).

5.7 Titanium hydride (TiH2)

The hydride of titanium is titanium hydride.

Titanium hydride is very brittle and is therefore used in the manufacture of powdered titanium.

TiH2 is also used in welding, where titanium dihydrogenates are thermally decomposed to precipitate new ecological hydrogen and titanium metal, the latter of which facilitates the welding and increases the strength of the weld.

5.8 Barium titanate (BaTiO3)

Barium titanate has remarkable "piezoelectric properties" and can be passed through a high frequency current to produce ultrasonic waves, so barium titanate is widely used in ultrasonic generators.

Railroad workers put it under the railroad tracks to measure the pressure of passing trains.

Doctors use it to make pulse recorders.

The underwater detector made of barium titanate is a sharp underwater eye, which can not only see the fish, but also see the underwater reefs, icebergs and submarines.
photo of piezoelectric appication

5.9 Titanium nitride (TiN)

Titanium nitride has a color similar to gold and is widely used in decoration.

TiN has a melting point of 2950°C, a Mohs hardness of 8-9, good thermal shock resistance. So it can be used as a coating for cutting tools.

TiN crucible is an excellent container to study the interaction between steel and some elements.

Titanium nitride has high electrical conductivity and superconductivity, so it can be applied to high temperature structural materials and superconducting materials.

5.10 Titanium trifluoride (TiF3)

Titanium trifluoride (Titanium trifluoride), referred to as titanium fluoride, which is blue crystal, insoluble in water, dilute acid and alkali.

It can be used to make titanium fluoride glass.

VI,Titanium vs. Other metals

6.1 Titanium vs. Zirconium

6.1.1 Mechanical property

Both Zirconium and titanium have the good ductility, processing performance. They can be cast, forged and welded with a variety of molding, lining and cladding, easy to manufacture a variety of complex shapes of chemical equipment, such as towers, heat exchangers, stirrers, pumps and valves, etc..
For the tower, they are usually used in the form of clad metal or liner metal. And according to the corrosion resistance, the lower part of the tower uses zirconium, the upper part uses titanium.

6.1.2 Corrosion resistance

Titanium and zirconium are complementary when used in harsh chemical environments. Both of them have similar excellent performance in some environments, but in some environments, one will be severely corroded, while the other has excellent corrosion resistance.

This can complement each other to meet the needs of modern chemical structure materials.

Zirconium is better in sulfuric acid concentration 70%, phosphoric acid to 55%, sulfurous, sulfamic acids, nitric acid, hydrogen peroxide, HCl,AlCl3,ZnCl2, all alkalies,organic compounds such as acetic, formic, lactic, and oxalic acids, and dry chlorine.
Pls check here for Zirocnium Introduction.

Titanium is suitable for oxidizing acids such as FeCl3, CuCl2, aqua regia and wet chlorine.

Titanium and zirconium for chemical applications are mostly unalloyed industrial grade, and their alloys are mostly used in military and nuclear engineering.

6.1.3 Price:

Price of Zirconium is usually 2 to 3 times of titanium, and 4 to 5 times of stainless steel.

6.2 Titanium vs. Hastelloy

6.2.1 Mechanical Porperty:

Hastelloy is easy to fabricate so it could use in mass production. Titanium has higher mentel point, and hard to machining, so it requires much higher technical process and advanced equipment support.

6.2.2 Corrosion Resistance:

Hastelloy has superior corrosion resistance at high temperatures, but titanium is still a better choice for some extreme corrosive conditions.

6.2.3 weight:

VII,Titanium equipment in the chemical industry applications

Most of the equipment used in chemical production in various types of corrosive media under the action of the conditions of work, the corrosion and corrosion resistance of the equipment materials is the design and use of equipment must be considered.

7.1 Fertilizer industry

7.1.1 Urea production equipment components

Titanium has better resistance to local corrosion than stainless steel in the melten urea medium. Because of the high corrosive of ammonium carbamate and liquid mixture of excess ammonia, urea and water at high temperatures and high pressures, which is the medium for synthetic urea production, titanium is needed by the high-pressure equipment of synthesis tower, carbon dioxide stripping tower, and1st stage of the separator.
Urea stripping tower is the heavier titanium lined equipment designed and manufactured by Chinese.
urea and urea production equipment

7.1.2 United alkali:

United alkali plant is suffering with strong corrosion of high concentrate ammonium chloride solution. The paint protection doesn't perform well. So, people use titanium to solve the problem.
In addition, titanium and titanium alloys can be used as chemical devices (such as hydrogen and nitrogen high-pressure compressors, etc.) of the valve, springs and electrochemical cathodic protection of the anode material, in order to improve its fatigue corrosion resistance and service life.

7.2 Chlor-alkali industry

Because titanium has excellent corrosion resistance in wet chlorine, chloride, chlorine solution. Will not occur point corrosion and stress corrosion phenomenon, which is generally stainless steel can not be compared, is also titanium in the chlorine industry and many industrial sectors in contact with chloride is used as a large number of equipment corrosion-resistant materials, it solves the chlor-alkali plant for many years the existence of common corrosion problems. Therefore, the chlor-alkali industry is one of the most widely used titanium equipment, the main titanium equipment are wet chlorine cooler, electrolytic tank metal anode, dechlorination tower heating tube, chlorine-containing fresh brine vacuum dechlorination pumps and valves.

7.3 Synthetic fiber industry

The srong corrosion material such as halogenated compounds (chlorides, bromides) has been used as catalysts or chlorides as intermediate media in the synthetic fiber industry during these years. So, using titanium as the main equipment corrosion-resistant materials is the solution.
The titanium equipment includes oxidation tower for polyester production, photochemical reactor of actam production, intermediate heater for salt hydrolysis, hydroxylamine heat exchanger, as well as the oxidation reactor for vinyl acetate production, and so on.
photo of Synthetic fiber and Synthetic fiber producing equipment

photo of Synthetic fiber and Synthetic fiber producing equipment

7.4 Dye chemical and pesticide production

There are varieties of dyes and pesticides and their intermediates, whose production equipment is often subject to strong corrosion by various acids and alkalis. So, a variety of corrosion-resistant materials have been applied for the equipment including the titanium and titanium alloy materials.
For example:
Maleic acid constant boiling tower, evaporator.
Useing titanium and titanium alloy not only can solve the corrosion, but also save the maintenance cost.

7.5 Others

In addition to the above applications, titanium equipment is also used in the oil refining industry to solve the serious corrosion problem of distillation equipment in the oil refining system.
In addition, because titanium resists seawater and chloride-containing media corrosion, it is made into components for pumps, valves, heat exchangers, condensers, piping in the salt and seawater desalination industry.

All in all , most of the modern chemical equipment are running in the high temperature and pressure, flammable and explosive, strong corrosion conditions under continuous operation, so titanium become more and more popular because of its good corrosion resistance, specific strength (strength / relative density).

As a professional reactor manufacturer, WHGCM has been using titanium as raw material to meet our customers request since established in 2010. The titanium reactor made by WHGCM with high corrosion resistance but high pressure resistance performance, has been wildely used in many fields such as food, pharmacy, chemical, dyestuff, agriculture, oil refining, scientific experiment and so on.

For the industrial application reactor, which refers the volume scales over 1,000 liters to 30,000 liters.

The cost of raw material would be very large which requires a great budget.

So, the Titanium Cladding plate, which a composite plate made of Tintanium alloy plate and cheap steel plate by explosion welding is applied.

WHGCM has been applying with this kind of Titanium cladding plate for years.

It is not only having feature of good corrosion resistance from titanium and good rigidity of steel, but also make the equipment made by this cladding plate much more ecnomic.

So, the titanium cladding palte reactor is an popular solution of using titanium caldding plate to meet customer's requirement.

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Reactor material - Titanium and its alloy

Contents

I, The discovery of Titanium

1.1 Who Discovered Titanium/where is titanium found

1.2 Titanium ore

1.2.1 Rutile

1.2.2 Ilmenite

II, Titanium element

III, Titanium metal

3.1 Titanium metal properties

3.2 Titanium advantages and its applications

3.2.1 Good mechanical property

3.2.1.1 Low density

3.2.1.2 Sturdy

3.2.1.3 Superconductor

3.2.1.4 Strong Anti-damping

3.2.1.5 High yield strength

3.2.1.6 Metallurgical practicality

3.2.1.7 Good temperature resistance

3.2.1.8 Good ductility

3.2.1.9 Good corrosion resistance

3.2.1.10 High Chemical Activity

3.2.1.11 Biophilic metal

3.2.1.12 The superiority of using titanium in the chemical industry

3.2.1.12.1 Long service life

3.2.1.12.2 Cost

3.2.1.12.3 Energy cost saving

3.2.1.12.4 High heat transfer efficiency

3.2.1.12.5 Improve product quality

3.2.1.12.6 Reduce equipment maintenance costs

3.2.1.12.7 Reduce material loss and increase production capacity

3.3 Production methods for titanium metal

3.4 Titanium cost

3.4.1 Resource distribution

3.4.2 Refining cost

3.4.3 Chemical reactivity of titanium

3.4.4 Mechnical difficulty

3.5 Titanium metal price

IV, Titanium Alloys

4.1 Definition

4.2 Ti-6Al-4V

4.3 Titanium Alloy Advantages

4.3.1 High Strength

4.3.2 High thermal strength

4.3.3 Good corrosion resistance

4.3.4 Good performance under low temperature

4.3.5 Low thermal elasticity

4.4 Applications of Titanium alloys

4.5 Food-Grade Titanium Alloy Models

4.5.1 TC4ELI

4.5.2 TC2

4.5.3 TA1

4.5.4 TA2

V, Important Compounds of Titanium and Their Uses

5.1 Titanium Dioxide

5.1.1 High-grade white paint.

5.1.2 Whitening agent in cosmetology.

5.1.3

5.1.4

5.1.5

5.1.6

5.1.7

5.1.8 Titanium Dioxide in Food

5.1.8.1 Is Titanium Dioxide Safe

5.1.8.2 Application in food

5.2 Titanic acid

5.3 Lithium titanate

5.4 Titanium tetrachloride

5.4.1 Property

5.4.2Applications:

5.4.2.1 Military

5.4.2.2 Advertisement

5.4.2.3 Polymer synthesis.

5.4.2.4 Electronic components

5.4.2.5 Agriculture

5.4.3 Storage

5.5 Titanium trichloride (TiCl3).

5.6 Titanium carbide (TiC)

5.7 Titanium hydride (TiH2)