Preliminary study on the application of concentrated solar power in metallurgy of titanium

Abstract

The applicability of concentrated solar power for metallurgy of titanium is discussed based on preliminary experimental works performed at Plataforma Solar de Almeria Spain, using solar furnace SF40 under protective argon atmosphere. As a starting material, titanium powder was used. The possibility of melting titanium compacts on yttria stabilized zirconia mat was investigated, and the effect of density and size of different green compacts was studied. It was observed that the time to achieve melting point is very short when concentrated solar power is used. The obtained results are expected to be similar for titanium sponge from which titanium powder is processed. After optimization of processing parameters, this will probably lead to a significant decrease of carbon footprint in the titanium ingots and castings production.