Foreword

Titanium dioxide is considered to be the best white pigment in the world at present. It has the characteristics of optimal whiteness, brightness, high refractive index, strong hiding power, non-toxicity and stable physical and chemical properties. It is widely used in plastics, coatings, papermaking, ink, chemical fiber, food and other fields.

What is titanium dioxide 

Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium white powder, is a white solid or powdery amphoteric oxide, also known as titanium white. The chemical formula is TiO2, the molecular weight is 79.9, the melting point is 1830~1850°C, and the boiling point is 2500~3000°C. It has the characteristics of non-toxicity, best opacity, best whiteness and brightness, etc. It has strong adhesion, is not easy to undergo chemical changes, has a high melting point, and has good ultraviolet shielding effect.

Classification of titanium dioxide

Titanium dioxide is chemically stable and does not react with most substances under normal circumstances. There are three crystallizations of titanium dioxide in nature: brook titanium dioxide, anatase titanium dioxide and rutile titanium dioxide.                                     

Brookite titanium dioxide belongs to the orthorhombic crystal series, and its chemical properties are unstable. It can be converted into rutile titanium dioxide at a high temperature of 650°C, so it has little practical value in industry.

Both rutile and anatase belong to the tetragonal crystal system, but have different crystal lattices， Compared with anatase titanium dioxide, rutile titanium dioxide. Rutile titanium dioxide has the most stable crystal structure. Rutile titanium dioxide and anatase titanium dioxide have better properties such as hardness, density, weather resistance, dielectric constant and refractive index.

Application of titanium dioxide

Rutile titanium dioxide and anatase titanium dioxide are the two most widely used titanium dioxide series on the market, but due to their different properties, they also differ in various aspects.

Anatase titanium dioxide is an excellent white powder pigment with good light scattering ability, because of its good whiteness, strong hiding power, high chemical stability, non-toxic and tasteless, and no stimulation to the human body. It is widely used in many industrial fields, such as coatings, plastics, paper and printing inks.

Rutile titanium dioxide combines the production quality control experience of sulfuric acid method rutile titanium dioxide, and integrates innovative research on inorganic coating, organic treatment, salt treatment, calcination control, hydrolysis and product application, it also adopts advanced color phase and particle size control, zirconium silicon aluminum phosphorus multi-component inorganic coating and new organic treatment technology. Thus developed a new generation of high-grade general-purpose (watery) rutile titanium dioxide. It is suitable for various architectural coatings, industrial paints, anti-corrosion paints, inks, powder coatings and other industries.

Application of XRD in the Detection of Titanium Dioxide

Titanium dioxide products are products with unique application characteristics that are processed by different manufacturing processes and surface modification processes. At present, there are hundreds of models of titanium dioxide at home and abroad that can meet the needs of different application fields, but each type of titanium dioxide has different performance and quality indicators. It is necessary to strictly monitor and adjust all the details in the production process of titanium dioxide during preparation, and it is also necessary to identify and characterize the quality and performance of titanium dioxide

With the rapid development of the titanium dioxide industry, many modern large-scale analytical instruments have been widely used in the titanium dioxide industry, which has improved the technical level, detection level and quality control of titanium dioxide production.

XRD is currently the most effective method for studying crystal structures. By analyzing and comparing the X-ray diffraction patterns of samples with those of known crystalline substances, In this way, the qualitative analysis of the phase composition and structure of the sample is completed, and then the quantitative analysis of the phase composition of the sample is completed by analyzing and calculating the data of the diffraction intensity of the sample.

Test Cases

Since the control of the lattice type and lattice ratio in titanium dioxide has a great influence on the quality of products in downstream application fields such as coatings and plastics, it is of practical significance to determine the crystal form and crystal proportion of titanium dioxide. The following is the characterization of two groups of sulfuric acid process titanium dioxide products using the FRINGE CLASS desktop X-ray diffractometer.

 Test results of sample No.1: 98.21% anatase and 1.79% rutile

Test results of sample No.2: 98.51% anatase and 1.49% rutile