Formation of Al by Metallothermic Reduction of Al2O3 by Ti at High Temperature

This work reports a simple way of producing metallic Al as a product of the metallothermic reduction of Al2O3 by metallic Ti at 1600 °C. A porous carbon template (derived from rattan) was used here to capture the Al released from the interfacial reactions, being an easy way to quantify the amount of Al released. For the process, the carbon template was placed between a pair of Ti foils in contact with Al2O3 plates. Phase composition analysis revealed that Ti3Al and TiO were formed on the surface of Ti foils, while the rattan-derived carbon template was converted to Al4C3. After the process, almost all Ti foil was consumed and a mass loss of more than 10% was observed in the Al2O3 plates. The carbon trap could be any other reactive system that, during processing at high temperatures one could use the released aluminum to form in situ other compounds.