Method for Producing Titanium-Based Electrolytic Raw Material and Method for Producing Metallic Titanium or Ti-Al Alloy

Abstract

Provided are a method for producing a titanium-based electrolytic raw material with relatively low Al and O contents while suppressing or eliminating the use of calcium fluoride and potassium perchlorate, and a method for producing pure metallic titanium or Ti—Al alloy. The method for producing a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining according to the present invention is a method for producing a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining used for molten salt electro-refining to obtain pure metallic titanium or Ti—Al alloy, the method comprising: a reaction step of bringing a titanium compound, at least a part of the titanium compound containing titanium oxide, into contact with, in melt, pure metal and/or alloy of aluminum as a reducing agent, and a melting accelerator, and causing reactions including deoxidation of a part of O in the titanium oxide to obtain a titanium alloy product comprising Al and O, wherein the melting accelerator comprises calcium oxide (CaO), and a content of calcium oxide in the melting accelerator is 80% by mass or higher.

1 . A method for producing a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining used for molten salt electro-refining to obtain pure metallic titanium or Ti—Al alloy, the method comprising:
 a reaction step of bringing a titanium compound, at least a part of the titanium compound containing titanium oxide, into contact with, in melt, pure metal and/or alloy of aluminum as a reducing agent, and a melting accelerator, and causing reactions including deoxidation of a part of O in the titanium oxide to obtain a titanium alloy product comprising Al and O, 
 wherein the melting accelerator comprises calcium oxide (CaO), and a content of the calcium oxide in the melting accelerator is 80% by mass or higher. 
 
     
     
         2 . The method for producing a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining according to  claim 1 , wherein calcium fluoride (CaF 2 ) and potassium perchlorate (KClO 4 ) are not used in the reaction step. 
     
     
         3 . The method for producing a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining according to  claim 1 , wherein in the reaction step, the temperature of the melt is 1450° C. or higher. 
     
     
         4 . The method for producing a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining according to  claim 1 , wherein in the reaction step, the reducing agent consists of pure metal and/or the alloy of aluminum, and an Al content of pure metal and/or the alloy of aluminum is higher than 50% by mass. 
     
     
         5 . The method for producing a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining according to  claim 1 , wherein in the reaction step, the titanium compound comprises TiO 2-x  (0≤x<1) and/or a titanate compound. 
     
     
         6 . The method for producing a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining according to  claim 1 , wherein, when producing the melt, the reaction step comprises melting the titanium compound and the melting accelerator, and then adding pure metal and/or the alloy of aluminum. 
     
     
         7 . A method for producing pure metallic titanium or Ti—Al alloy, the method comprising:
 electro-refining of dissolving a crude titanium-based material, which is a consumable anode raw material, in a molten salt bath, and depositing a purified titanium-based material on a cathode, 
 wherein the titanium-based raw material for electro-refining produced by the method for a titanium-based raw material for electro-refining according to  claim 1  is used for the consumable anode raw material as the crude titanium-based material. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method for producing pure metallic titanium or Ti—Al alloy according to  claim 7 , wherein the molten salt bath is a chloride bath. 
     
     
         9 . The method for producing pure metallic titanium or Ti—Al alloy according to  claim 7 , wherein the chloride bath comprises magnesium chloride and titanium dichloride.