Titanium is urgently needed in the armament industry especially as a substitute for 18-8 stainless steel. There would be an almost inexhaustible supply of ores of titanium if high-purity titanium metal could be produced economically in large quantities. The use of titanium would permit much of the scarce nickel and chromium to be made available for other important uses.
It has been found by H. C. Kawecki and E. J. Bielecki that high-purity Na2TiF6, K2TiF6, and (NH4)2TiF6 can be produced from iron-bearing titaniferous raw material, ilmenite ores, or a slag concentrate.
The study of the rate of evaporation and reduction of Na2TiF6 was undertaken as a part of a general investigation on treating the titanium compounds recovered from iron-bearing titaniferous raw materials.
The reduction of metal oxides in vacuum has been studied by Dr. Kroll and Dr. Schlechten. They have been able to reduce many metals from their oxides under reduced pressures using carbon as a reducing agent. The volatility and stability of metallic sulphides has been studied in vacuum by Dr. Hsiao and Dr. Schlechten. They have been able to classify a large number of sulfides according to their relative volatility and stability.
A similar method of approach was employed in this research as described in the previously mentioned references. The first step was to make the compound (Na2TiF6) in the laboratory, the next step was to study this compound by the Langmuir Method, and finally an attempt was made to decompose the Na2TiF6 with AlF3 --Introduction, pages 1-2
