Hunting Titanium Metal

When titanium dioxide TiOj had been prepared from ilmenite and rutile it became an important task for chemistry and metallurgy to produce the element in metallic form. The trials involved great difficulties that we, with our present knowledge, fully understand. The background is described in Chapter 3, section 3.4.2. 

Klaproth and many contemporary chemists tried in vain to isolate titanium metal, but in 1825 Berzelius succeeded in reducing potassium hexafluorotitanate K TiF with metallic potassium. The titanium metal obtained, however, was very impure. The same method was used two decades later by Friedrich Wohler and Sainte-Claire Deville. They got a powder with a metallic luster and thought at first that their prepa-rahon was pure titanium metal, until they found that the reaction product was rich in nitrides. Welders of htanium components today recognize the situation. Even under a protective atmosphere of argon or helium, the slightest traces of nitrogen lead to the formahon of yellow titanium nitride. 

In 1887, two scientists in Uppsala University introduced a new technique with which they could prepare pure titanium metal. Their method was a forerunner of the Kroll process, the large-scale technique for titanium production today. 

Lars Fredrik NUson (1840-1899) made extensive investigations into unusual elements and he discovered the rare earth metal scandium. Towards the end of his life he was active in the preparation of rules for using Alfred Nobel s legacy. His work is described in more detail in Chapter 17 Rare Earth Metals. 

Sven-Otto Pettersson (1848-1941), professor in Uppsala and Stockholm, was originally a distinguished oceanographer, but he co-operated with Nilson in chemical research regarding unusual elements as titanium. 

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