Example 6
120 g of a 55% aluminum, 45% titanium powder (measured by metal content) was first prepared, by adding aluminum chloride powder (from Strem Chemical) to an aluminum-titanium chloride Ziegler Natta catalyst powder (also from Strem Chemical).
Next, 140 g of sodium metal was placed in an Inconel reactor and heated to 250° C. Over approximately 2 hours, 94 g of the titanium-aluminum chloride powder mix was pulse fed into the sodium, which was continuously stirred by a Cowles blade mixer at between 1600 and 2500 rpm. Powder addition continued until the mixer could no longer maintain a vortex in the sodium. At the end of the reaction the sodium temperature had increased to 292° C.
The Inconel reactor was then sealed, transferred to a furnace, and heated to 900° C. for 1 hour. After this step, the unreacted sodium was removed and the metal powder washed to remove its salt coating. Washing continued until the wash water conductivity fell below 2 microsiemens. Finally, the powder was dried in a vacuum over for 24 hours.
The titanium-aluminum metal thus produced was found by ICPMS analysis to contain below 1000 ppm iron and below 1500 ppm total transition metals.
