Synthesis of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by the electrolysis of molten CaCl 2+ CaO

Abstract

A new process is developed to synthesize the precious alloy directly from the oxide mixtures. This process consists of calciothermic reduction in molten CaCl 2 and electrochemical reaction for the recovery of Ca from CaO in the same bath. The molten CaCl 2 can dissolve Ca and CaO for complete reaction. The oxide mixture consisting of TiO 2, Al 2O 3, and V 2O 5 was prepared. Either a simple mixture of oxides or its calcined sample was reduced in the molten CaCl 2 + CaO. The obtained metallic powder was identified as α-Ti single phase and it contained only about 3000 mass ppm oxygen. Although its metallic composition was close to Ti6A1-4V, this reduced powder had a broad compositional distribution. This inhomogeneous distribution was improved by the subsequent sintering in argon. © 2008 The Japan Institute of Metals.