Global titanium resources

The element titanium was discovered in 1789. In 1908, Norway and the United States began to produce titanium dioxide using the sulfuric acid method. In 1910, titanium sponge was first produced in the laboratory using the sodium method. In 1948, DuPont in the United States used the magnesium method to produce titanium sponge in tons. This marked the beginning of the industrial production of titanium sponge, that is, titanium. 　　China's titanium industry started in the 1950s. In 1954, Beijing Nonferrous Metals Research Institute began to conduct research on the preparation process of titanium sponge. In 1956 * * Titanium was included in the 12-year development plan as a strategic metal. In 1958, the industrial trial of titanium sponge was carried out at the Fushun Aluminum Factory, and China's first titanium sponge production workshop was established. At the same time, China's first titanium processing material production test workshop was established at the Shenyang Nonferrous Metal Processing Plant. 　　In the 1960s and 1970s, in * * Under the unified planning, more than 10 titanium sponge production units represented by Zunyi Titanium Factory and several titanium processing units represented by Baoji Nonferrous Metal Processing Plant have been built. At the same time, scientific research strength represented by Beijing Nonferrous Metal Research Institute has been formed, becoming the fourth country with a complete titanium industry system after the United States, the former Soviet Union and Japan. * * . 　　Around 1980, my country's titanium sponge production reached 2,800 tons. However, due to the lack of knowledge of titanium metal by most people at that time, the high price of titanium materials also limited the application of titanium. The production of titanium processed materials was only about 200 tons, and my country's titanium industry was in trouble. Under this circumstance, advocated by Comrade Fang Yi, then Vice Premier of the State Council, * * With the support of Comrade Yuan Baohua, the inter-ministerial National Titanium Application Promotion Leading Group was established in July 1982 to coordinate the development of the titanium industry. From the 1980s to the early 1990s, my country's production and sales of titanium sponge and titanium processing materials were booming, and the titanium industry developed rapidly and steadily. 　　To sum up, my country’s titanium industry has roughly gone through three stages of development.: That is, the pioneering period in the 1950s, the construction period in the 1960s and 1970s, and the initial development period in the 1980s and 1990s. In the new century, thanks to the sustained and rapid development of the national economy, my country's titanium industry has also entered a period of rapid growth. 　　Titanium is corrosion-resistant, so it is often used in the chemical industry. In the past, parts of chemical reactors containing hot nitric acid were made of stainless steel. Stainless steel is also afraid of the strong corrosive agent - hot nitric acid. Every six months, all such parts must be replaced. Now, although the cost of using titanium to make these parts is more expensive than stainless steel parts, it can be used continuously for five years, which is much more cost-effective. 　　In electrochemistry, titanium is a one-way valve type metal with a very negative potential and is generally unable to be decomposed using titanium as an anode. 　　The biggest disadvantage of titanium is that it is difficult to refine. Mainly because titanium has a strong ability to combine at high temperatures and can combine with oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and many other elements. Therefore, people are careful to prevent these elements from "attacking" titanium during smelting or casting. When smelting titanium, air and water are of course strictly prohibited from coming close, and even the use of alumina crucibles commonly used in metallurgy is prohibited, because titanium will steal oxygen from alumina. Nowadays, people use magnesium and titanium tetrachloride to interact in an inert gas - helium or argon to refine titanium. 　　People take advantage of titanium's strong ability to combine at high temperatures. When making steel, nitrogen is easily dissolved in the molten steel. When the steel ingot cools, bubbles form in the steel ingot, affecting the quality of the steel. Therefore, steelmaking workers add titanium metal to the molten steel, causing it to combine with nitrogen and turn into slag-titanium nitride, which floats on the surface of the molten steel, making the steel ingot relatively pure. 　　When a supersonic aircraft flies, the temperature of its wings can reach 500°C. If the wing is made of a relatively heat-resistant aluminum alloy, it will not be able to withstand temperatures between one and two or three hundred degrees. A light, tough, and high-temperature-resistant material must be used to replace the aluminum alloy, and titanium can just meet these requirements. Titanium can also withstand the test of more than 100 degrees below zero. At this low temperature, titanium still has good toughness and does not become brittle. 　　The strong absorption of air by titanium and zirconium can be used to remove air and create a vacuum. For example, using a vacuum pump made of titanium, the air can be pumped down to only one part in a million. 　　Titanium oxide, titanium dioxide, is a snow-white powder and the best white pigment, commonly known as titanium white. In the past, people mined titanium ore mainly to obtain titanium dioxide. Titanium white has strong adhesion, is not prone to chemical changes, and is always white. What is particularly valuable is that titanium dioxide is non-toxic. It has a high melting point and is used to make refractory glass, glazes, enamels, clay, high-temperature-resistant experimental vessels, etc. 　　Titanium dioxide is the whitest thing in the world. 1 gram of titanium dioxide can paint an area of ​​more than 450 square centimeters snow-white. It is 5 times whiter than the commonly used white pigment - zinc barium white, so it is the best pigment for preparing white paint. The amount of titanium dioxide used as pigment in the world reaches hundreds of thousands of tons per year. Titanium dioxide can be added to paper to make the paper white and opaque. The effect is 10 times greater than other substances. Therefore, titanium dioxide must be added to banknote paper and art paper. In addition, in order to lighten the color of plastic and soften the luster of rayon, titanium dioxide is sometimes added. In the rubber industry, titanium dioxide is also used as a filler for white rubber. 　　Titanium tetrachloride is an interesting liquid. It has a pungent smell and emits white smoke in humid air. It hydrolyzes and turns into a white hydrogel of titanium dioxide. exist * * In the past, people took advantage of the strange temperament of titanium tetrachloride as an artificial aerosol. Especially on the ocean, where there is a lot of water vapor, when titanium tetrachloride is released, the thick smoke is like a white Great Wall, blocking the enemy's sight. In agriculture, people use titanium tetrafluoride to prevent frost. 　　Barium titanate crystal has such characteristics: When it changes shape under pressure, an electric current is generated, and the shape changes again when electricity is applied. Therefore, people put barium titanate in ultrasonic waves, and when it is pressed, it generates electric current. The strength of the ultrasonic waves can be measured by the size of the electric current it generates. On the contrary, by passing high-frequency current through it, ultrasonic waves can be generated. Nowadays, barium titanate is used in almost all ultrasonic instruments. In addition, barium titanate has many uses. For example: Railroad workers placed it under the tracks to measure the pressure of trains passing by. ； Doctors use it to make pulse recorders. The underwater detector made of barium titanate is a sharp underwater eye. It can not only see schools of fish, but also underwater reefs, icebergs, enemy submarines, etc. 　　When titanium is smelted, complex steps are required. Turn the ilmenite into titanium tetrachloride, put it into a sealed stainless steel tank, fill it with argon gas, and react it with the metal magnesium to get "sponge titanium". This porous "titanium sponge" cannot be used directly. They must be melted into liquid in an electric furnace before they can be cast into titanium ingots. But making such an electric stove is not easy! In addition to the fact that the air in the electric furnace must be pumped clean, what is even more troublesome is that it is impossible to find a crucible containing liquid titanium, because generally refractory materials contain oxides, and the oxygen in them will be taken away by the liquid titanium. Later, people finally invented a "water-cooled copper crucible" electric furnace. Only the central part of this electric furnace is hot, and the rest is cold. After titanium is melted in the electric furnace, it flows to the wall of the copper crucible cooled by water and immediately condenses into titanium ingots. Titanium blocks weighing several tons can already be produced using this method, but its cost can be imagined.