A mineral raw material characteristics
Titanium is a typical lithophilic element, often appearing as an oxide mineral. There are more than 80 kinds of minerals in the earth's crust containing TiO2 above 1%, and there are 15 kinds of them with industrial value, and the ones mainly utilized in our country are ilmenite, rutile and titanium magnetite, etc. (Table 3.5.1). They are both primary (rock ore) and secondary (weathered residual slope accumulation and sedimentary sand ore). China's major places of origin of titanium mineral raw materials summary of the basic characteristics of the comparison, such as Table 3.5.2.
Second, the use and technical and economic indicators
Titanium raw materials are mainly used in the production of titanium dioxide (titanium dioxide), titanium metal (titanium sponge), titanium-containing steel, as well as welding rod coatings. They account for the proportion of China and foreign countries are slightly different. Titanium dioxide, China accounted for 88%, 92.4% of foreign countries; titanium metal (titanium sponge), China accounted for 10%, foreign countries accounted for 5.3%; titanium-containing steel and electrode coatings, China accounted for 2.0%, foreign countries accounted for 2.3%.
Titanium white is not only a white pigment with excellent performance, but also an important chemical raw material. It is widely used in coatings, inks, plastics, rubber, paper and chemical fiber industry. Titanium dioxide paint, bright colors, pure tone; titanium dioxide is a high-level filler for paper, so that the paper is thin and opaque, high whiteness, good gloss, high strength and smooth and good use. Titanium dioxide is used in plastics industry, it is opaque coloring agent; used in rubber industry, it makes white and light-colored rubber with high strength, large stretching rate, aging resistance and not easy to fade. It is also the best matting material for chemical fibers, so that the transparent chemical fiber with permanent matting effect, and can improve the toughness. In addition, it is also used in enamel, electrical appliances, electronic raw materials and so on.
Titanium concentrate smelted into titanium sponge, then ingot casting and made of industrial pure titanium and titanium alloy titanium. Titanium and titanium alloy titanium material is mainly used in the aviation and aerospace sectors. Compared with alloy steel, titanium alloys can reduce the weight of aircraft by 40%. Others, such as artificial satellite shells, spaceship skin, rocket engine casing, missiles, etc., titanium alloys can play a big role. Non-aerospace sector using industrial pure titanium and titanium alloys mainly in the power station condenser, contact with seawater devices, chemical devices and some mechanical engineering. Especially the desalination heater with titanium is the titanium industry in the development of epoch-making events. The military industrial sector will be titanium is mainly used for ships and weapons production.
Titanium metal in addition to the main production of pure titanium and titanium alloys, another use is for the steel industry to produce titanium-iron alloys and titanium-containing steel. Titanium in steel as an added element, can change the properties of steel. Make steel in the same tempering temperature, with higher strength and hardness, or the same hardness requirements, tempered to a higher temperature. At present, China's titanium-containing steel has a high-strength low-alloy steel, structural steel, stainless steel, heat-resistant alloys, ultra-high-strength steel and magnetic steel and other steel series, which are widely used in automobiles, ships and oil drilling, etc., and has been developed to become the second largest steel system after manganese steel.
The main titanium-containing mineral rutile is also an indispensable raw material for high-quality electrode coatings.
Three, a brief history of mining
1789, the British amateur mineralogist Gregor (William Gregor) priest in his diocese of Gonawal State in the Mernagin Valley in the black magnetic sandstone (ilmenite) found a new element (titanium), then named "Mernaginite " (Menaccanite).
In 1795, the German chemist M.H. Klaproth (Klaproth) in the rock minerals for the systematic analysis of the test found that a new metal oxides, that is, the current rutile (TiO2) also contains this new element, he will be the new element in Greek mythology, the son of the earth and the sky Titans (Titan God) named titanium (Titanium). "Titanium" is what Gregor called "Mernaginite".
China's titanium resources of geological exploration, mainly after the founding of New China in the 1950s to 1960s, and successively put into development; China's titanium resources of deep processing and utilization (production of titanium dioxide, welding rod coating, titanium sponge, titanium, titanium, titanium materials, etc.), is from 1954 by the Beijing Research Institute of Nonferrous Metals sponge titanium sponge development began in 1958 Shenyang Nonferrous Metals Processing Plant sponge titanium and titanium processing plant completed Titanium and titanium processing workshop put into production in 1958 Shenyang Nonferrous Metals Processing Plant, titanium industry system began to take shape in the late 1960s (the production of titanium sponge, titanium processing materials and other products), to 1997, China's titanium industry has formed a mine - smelting - processing and scientific research - design - production - the application of the two interrelated, relatively complete system. China is one of the world's exporters of titanium concentrates, wrought titanium, titanium products, titanium oxides and anatase titanium white pigments.