Porous sintered compact of titanium oxide for production of metallic titanium through direct electrolytic process and process for producting the same

摘要

A porous sintered compact of titanium oxide characterized in that it has a porosity of 20 to 65% and a hardness of 60 (HV) or higher, or characterized in that it has a porosity of 20 to 65%, a specific surface area of 0.1 to 5.0 m2/cm3, a volume ratio of pores of 0.3 to 100 μm diameter of 10% or higher based on the total pore volume and a hardness of 60 (HV) or higher. Using this porous sintered compact as an electrolytic raw material in the process wherein titanium oxide is reduced to metallic titanium by the electrolysis with an electrolyte comprised of a molten salt enables efficiently obtaining metallic titanium. The electrolytic process using a molten salt is attracting attention as a process capable of directly obtaining metallic titanium from titanium oxide with lower cost than in conventional processes, and the employment of the above porous sintered compact would attain striking promotion toward the practical utilization of the process.