Low Temperature Synthesis Method of TiH2 Powder from TiCl4 Reduction with MgH2

One of the promising methods to produce low cost titanium powder is to produce titanium hydride (TiH2) powder and transform it to Ti powder through dehydrogenation process. Another advantage of this method is the possibility to produce low oxygen content Ti for powder metallurgy. In this study, the reduction of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) to TiH2 was investigated with magnesium hydride (MgH2). The experiments were conducted under hydrogen atmosphere to promote the production of TiH2. The studied parameters included the reaction time and temperature. In order to minimize the energy consumption, the temperature range was set between 400 degrees C and 500 degrees C. Characterization study of the samples was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The results indicated that TiCl3 was formed as an intermediate compound, and with increasing in reaction time up to 12 h, TiH2 amount started to increase.