Mass spectrometric investigations on the carbothermal reduction of titanium dioxide

In the experiments described in the paper three mixtures of titanium dioxide with three different types of carbon (carbon black, graphite, active carbon) were monitored directly by TG and coupled TG and MS. The first and second reaction step of the overall reaction can be investigated by these methods. Gaseous Ti-containing species were detected only in the case of the mixture with active carbon, and are probably limited for the case of a slow reaction rate in the second reaction step. Therefore, the mechanism of mass transfer is realized as a rule only by the CO/CO2 mass transfer mechanism. The titanium dioxide particles are the precursor of the hard phase particle formed.