A Rapid Phase Analysis Method for Titanium Ores

The main titanium minerals include rutile (TiO2), ilmenite (FeO·TiO2), sphene (CaO·TiO2·SiO2) and titanomagnetite (FeTiO3·nFe2O3). The methods used for rapid phase analysis of titanium minerals were introduced in this paper. The total titanium in the samples was determined by hydrogen peroxide colorimetry after sample decomposition with alkali fusion. And titanium in the mineral phases was determined by inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (ICP-MS) coupled with 3 sample decomposition methods: (1) NH4HF2-HCl digestion for ilmenite, sphene, titanomagnetite and silicate phases, (2) wet magnetic separationHCl digestion for ilmenite phases, (3) NH4HF2-HCl digestion of magnetic residue after roasting at 800℃ for sphene and silicate phases. The method has been applied to the analysis of four titanium mineral phases in 12 titanium ores with satisfactory results.