Vietnam is the third largest exporter of titanium ore to China.
What is Titan?
Titanium (or titanium) is a silvery-white metal, light weight, high strength and non-corrosive. Titanium is as strong and strong as steel, but 45% lighter in weight than steel. Meanwhile, tian is 50% heavier than aluminum but is 6 times stronger.
Titani was discovered by scientist William Gregor in Cornwall, England in 1791, and it was named after the titan in Greek mythology. Titanium occurs in mineral deposits and is widely distributed in the Earth’s crust and lithosphere. Titanium is also found in most living things, bodies of water, rocks, and soil.
Titanium is very heat resistant whether hot or cold. Titanium only melts completely before the temperature of 1,668oC and does not change its properties at any temperature below 600 degrees. Titanium is also cold-resistant, not brittle when exposed to cold like many other metals.
Applications of titanium
Because of its superior properties compared to other metals, that’s why Titanium is widely used in human life. Specifically, because it cannot be corroded by seawater or acids, titanium is often used to make underwater engines, such as propellers, ships, or cover underwater pipes.
With good tensile strength (even at high temperatures), light weight, good corrosion resistance, and very high temperature resistance, titanium alloys are used mainly in aviation, armored vehicles, and naval ships. , spaceships and rockets, bulletproof vests.
Russian titanium metal is used in making components for American aircraft. Photo: RT
In the past, airplanes were made from steel. However, with new lighter, more durable materials, they are used to prolong the life of the aircraft and help save energy. Titanium is as hard as steel but 45% lighter. It can withstand long time exposure to salt water in sea air.
The strength of titanium makes this alloy difficult to weld, making it more expensive than steel and aluminum. Finding other materials to replace titanium is still difficult because almost not all metals can withstand the great pressure of high-altitude flight and must be constantly exposed to other elements. .
Titan is a great strength of Russia. Russia’s exclusive titanium production company VSMPO-Avisma is the company that supplies more than one-third of titanium for the world aircraft industry, corresponding to 70% of products for the global market. This group supplies 40% titanium to manufacturer Boeing and 60% to Airbus. It can be said that the US is very dependent on titanium and especially the supply of titanium from Russia.
The idea of \u200b\u200bthe research to introduce titanium into industries in the US and the Soviet Union dates back to the 1950s. However, only Russia has succeeded in producing high-quality titanium alloys.
Vietnam exploits and exports titanium
Titanium mining output (thousand tons) and estimated reserves of countries around the world. Photo: USGS
According to the data for 2019 and 2020, Australia, China and South Africa are the top producers of titanium concentrates while China continues to be the leading producer and consumer of titanium concentrates in the world.
In 2020, the total weight of China’s titanium ore imports is about 3 million tons, an increase of 19% compared to 2019. Guangdong province, China, has started to put titanium ore production lines up to 200,000 tons per year.
According to the USGS, as of October 2020, Mozambique (36%), Australia (14%), Vietnam (11%) and Kenya (11%) are the top suppliers of titanium concentrate to China. In Saudi Arabia, due to technical problems and concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, the operation of a project to produce titanium slag up to 500,000 tons per year has been delayed to 2021.
Other projects on titanium are being developed in Australia, China, Malawi, Mozambique, Norway, Senegal and Tanzania.
According to the OEC (project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA), as of 2019, Vietnam is the 11th titanium oxide exporter in the world.
The main destinations of Vietnam’s titanium exports are Japan ($11.6 million), China ($8.84 million), Indonesia ($448 thousand), South Korea ($379 thousand) and India. (254 thousand USD).
The fastest growing markets of Vietnamese titanium oxide from 2018 to 2019 are China, Japan and Indonesia.
It can be seen that Vietnam’s potential for mining and exporting titanium-related mineral products is still very large and sufficient to supply the world’s strongest consumer markets, such as China and the United States. .
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