I-Corps: Room Temperature Titanium Extraction from Low-Cost Pigments

I-Corps：从低成本颜料中室温提取钛

• 批准号: 2121590
• 负责人: Li Tan
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-03-15 至 2023-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121590&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Room; Temperature; Titanium; Extraction

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a green manufacturing technology for titanium production. Special metals, such as titanium and its alloys, have unique corrosion resistance, high specific strength, and excellent bio-compatibility. These metals may be used in the fabrication of high-performance parts for medical implants and other applications such as deep sea mining and robotics. In addition, the proposed room temperature process for titanium production may enable the development of future alloys such as high entropy alloys, which are not suitable for the current high temperature manufacturing process. Also, the proposed manufacturing process may be applied to extract rare earth metals from their oxides, satisfying critical needs in manufacturing electric motors for the US auto industry.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an electrochemical approach for titanium (Ti) parts manufacturing utilizing low-cost pigments (TiO2) refined into value-added products (e.g., Ti powders/wires) at room temperature. Though electrochemical approaches have been exploited by others, the proposed technology is based on a unique liquid metal alloy as the anode. The liquid metal alloy has a “catalytic” capability, capable of accelerating titanium extractions from solid TiO2 without the need for elevated temperatures. The resulting value-added products may be used as raw materials in additive manufacturing to deliver Ti parts. This proposed room temperature process potentially may save more than 50% of the energy costs versus the traditional Ti refining process and may be easier to directly couple with additive manufacturing. In addition, this technology may decrease the price of Ti powder from $50 per pound to $4 per pound.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该 I-Corps 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发钛及其合金等特殊金属的绿色制造技术，具有独特的耐腐蚀性、高比强度和优异的生物相容性。可用于制造医疗植入物和其他应用（例如深海采矿和机器人）的高性能零件。此外，提出的用于钛生产的室温工艺可能有助于开发未来合金（例如高熵合金）。此外，所提出的制造工艺可用于从氧化物中提取稀土金属，满足美国汽车工业制造电动机的关键需求。这个I-Corps项目。该技术基于电化学方法的开发，用于制造钛 (Ti) 零件，利用低成本颜料 (TiO2) 在室温下精炼成增值产品（例如钛粉/丝），尽管电化学方法已得到开发。据其他人介绍，所提出的技术基于一种独特的液态金属合金作为阳极，该液态金属合金具有“催化”能力，能够加速从固体TiO2中提取钛，从而产生增值产品。与传统的钛精炼工艺相比，这种提议的室温工艺可以用作增材制造的原材料，可以节省 50% 以上的能源成本，并且更容易与增材制造直接结合。这项技术可能将钛粉的价格从每磅 50 美元降低到每磅 4 美元。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。