THE CURRENT STATUS OF TITANIUM DIBORIDE PRODUCTION: ASSESSMENT AND DETERMINATION  OF THE DOMINANT TRENDS AND PROSPECTS

We have studied and systematized the information about the resource base of the state and the production of titanium diboride, its domestic and global market. It is confirmed that at the moment Russian companies provide the raw material production base of titanium diboride, obtained by all technological options that are in demand. It was found that the main methods of obtaining titanium diboride are carbothermic, magnesiothermic and gas-phase. Carbothermic and magnesiothermic methods include recovering titanium and boron oxides with carbon and magnesium, refining the products; there are various technological options for implementing these methods allowing to obtain titanium diboride in the form of micro- and nanopowders. The technologies for the carbothermic method are poorly developed since the costly boron carbide has to be used in this case. The gas phase process is based on synthesizing borides in plasma flow in a continuous mode, and allows to produce nanocrystalline titanium diboride. We have revealed 10 Russian and 10 foreign companies actually offering their services as titanium diboride manufacturers and suppliers. Russian manufacturers sell titanium diboride powder in the 40–100 µm size range, obtained by the magnesiothermic method. The strategically important market segment of nanopowders is fully covered by foreign suppliers, including companies such as American Elements, Nanostructured&Amorphous Materials Inc., Plasma Chem GmbH, NEOMAT Co. This necessitates the design and development of a Russian nanotechnology for producing titanium diboride.