Titanium tetrachloride is the inorganic compound with the formula TiCl4. It is an important intermediate in the production of titanium metal and the pigment titanium dioxide. TiCl4 is a volatile liquid. Upon contact with humid air, it forms thick clouds of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and hydrochloric acid, a reaction that was formerly exploited for use in smoke machines. It is sometimes referred to as "tickle" or "tickle 4", as a phonetic representation of the symbols of its molecular formula (TiCl4).
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👉 Titanium tetrachloride in the context of Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength that is resistant to corrosion in sea water, aqua regia, and chlorine.
Titanium was discovered in Cornwall, Great Britain, by William Gregor in 1791 and was named by Martin Heinrich Klaproth after the Titans of Greek mythology. The element occurs within a number of minerals, principally rutile and ilmenite, which are widely distributed in the Earth's crust and lithosphere; it is found in almost all living things, as well as bodies of water, rocks, and soils. The metal is extracted from its principal mineral ores by the Kroll and Hunter processes. The most common compound, titanium dioxide (TiO2), is a popular photocatalyst and is used in the manufacture of white pigments. Other compounds include titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), a component of smoke screens and catalysts; and titanium trichloride (TiCl3), which is used as a catalyst in the production of polypropylene.
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Titanium tetrachloride in the context of Halide
In chemistry, a halide (rarely halogenide) is a binary chemical compound, of which one part is a halogen atom and the other part is an element or radical that is less electronegative (or more electropositive) than the halogen, to make a fluoride, chloride, bromide, iodide, astatide, or theoretically tennesside compound. The alkali metals combine directly with halogens under appropriate conditions forming halides of the general formula, MX (X = F, Cl, Br or I). Many salts are halides; the hal- syllable in halide and halite reflects this correlation.
A halide ion is a halogen atom bearing a negative charge. The common halide anions are fluoride (F), chloride (Cl), bromide (Br), and iodide (I). Such ions are present in many ionic halide salts. Halide minerals contain halides. All these halide anions are colorless. Halides also form covalent bonds, examples being colorless TiF4, colorless TiCl4, orange TiBr4, and brown TiI4. The heavier members TiCl4, TiBr4, TiI4 can be distilled readily because they are molecular. The outlier is TiF4, m.p. 284 °C, because it has a polymeric structure. Fluorides often differ from the heavier halides.
Titanium tetrachloride in the context of Kroll process
The Kroll process is a pyrometallurgical industrial process used to produce metallic titanium from titanium tetrachloride. As of 2001 William Justin Kroll's process replaced the Hunter process for almost all commercial production.
Titanium tetrachloride in the context of Hunter process
The Hunter process was the first industrial process to produce pure metallic titanium. It was invented in 1910 by Matthew A. Hunter, a chemist born in New Zealand who worked in the United States. The process involves reducing titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) with sodium (Na) in a batch reactor with an inert atmosphere at a temperature of 1,000 °C. Diluted hydrochloric acid is then used to leach the salt from the product.
Prior to the Hunter process, all efforts to produce Ti metal afforded highly impure material, often titanium nitride (which resembles a metal). The Hunter process was used until 1993, when it was replaced by the more economical Kroll process, which was developed in the 1940s. In the Kroll process, TiCl4 is reduced by magnesium instead of sodium. Both methods share the same initial step, obtaining TiCl4 from ore by chlorination and carbothermic reduction of the oxygen. The Kroll process is now the most commonly used titanium smelting process.