Thermodynamic modeling, metallothermic synthesis, and characterization of ferrotitanium

Abstract Ferrotitanium is widely used in alloying stainless steels to enhance their strength, corrosion resistance, and high-temperature resistance. Ferrotitanium’s advantages over pure titanium – such as better solubility in the liquid steel bath and lower cost – have made it the preferred choice in stainless steel alloying. In this study, it was aimed to produce ferrotitanium alloy through the metallothermic reduction of Fe 2 O 3 and TiO 2 . The system’s thermodynamic modeling was performed using HSC Chemistry 6.12 and FactSage 7.1. The experimental studies investigated the effect of using aluminum as a reductant with varying stoichiometries on the total metal recovery yield, hardness, and microstructure. Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), and hardness measurement techniques were employed in characterization studies. The results of the experimental studies showed that the highest metal recovery yields were obtained with 105 % stoichiometric aluminum as 97.9 % for Fe and 100 % for Ti.