CuCl2-assisted deoxygenation of titanium powder via sintering

Pure titanium is widely used in fields such as aerospace and medicine, and its application often requires controlling its oxygen content. However, the existing deoxidation methods are costly and have a complicated process. This has consequently increased the cost and complexity of titanium applications. To address this, this study innovatively proposes a chemical deoxygenation-powder metallurgy route based on copper chloride (CuCl 2 ). Specifically, CuCl 2 is added to titanium powder, where it reacts with the oxide layer to form volatile TiClO gases that are expelled from the matrix. This enables the efficient removal of oxygen before solid solution into Ti matrix. Among them, adding 3.0 wt.% CuCl 2 can reduce the oxygen content in the titanium powder from 3866 ppm to 2260 ppm, a decrease of 41.54%. At the same time, the in-situ precipitated Ti-Cu compound not only refines the grains but also strengthens the grain boundaries, compensating for the strength loss caused by deoxidation. This results in the tensile strength of Ti-3CuCl 2 increasing from the pure state's 693 MPa to 872 MPa. In this process, the elongation also improves, especially for Ti-2CuCl 2 , the elongation increases from 12.3% to 20%, an increase of 62.6%. This method combines three important benefits: simple processing, low cost, and improved performance. It provides a new practical solution for deeply removing oxygen and developing high-performance titanium alloys.