Titanium dioxide prices continue to rise, are there other alternatives?

From March 7, 2019, the sales price of all types of titanium dioxide in Longyuli increased by 500 RMB/ton for all types of domestic customers and BYK/ton for all types of international customers on the basis of the original price.
from March 7, 2019, china's nuclear titanium white various types of titanium dioxide on the basis of the original price of various types of domestic customers increased by 500 yuan / ton, to all types of international customers increased by 100 dollars / ton.
March 8, 2019, Pansteel Group's level of titanium resources development Co., Ltd. sulfuric acid titanium dioxide tax base price increased by 500 yuan per ton, the international increase of 100 U.S. dollars / ton .
this series of price increases undoubtedly brought some pressure to the downstream enterprises of titanium dioxide, in this case, downstream enterprises really can only wait to die? Can we find some relatively inexpensive powders as alternatives to titanium dioxide?
recent years, a number of enterprises and researchers are committed to the development of silicon micro-powder, talcum powder, kaolin, silica ash and other TiO2 composite pigments.
calcium carbonate
calcium carbonate whiteness is high, larger than the surface area, good adsorption performance, strong oil absorption, strong covering performance, is an important white pigment. Studies have shown that the partial replacement of TiO2 with calcium carbonate can improve the stability, scrub resistance, whiteness and cover of coatings.
The mechanically active preparation of calcium carbonate/TiO2 composite white pigments is slightly weaker than the goldstone titanium white (RD and RS) and sharp titanium (RJ), far stronger than Liddite powder; Calcium carbonate/TiO2 composite white pigments have a lower density than titanium and Lidl powder.
Silicon micro-powder
silicon micro-powder is a natural quartz (SiO2) or molten quartz (natural quartz by high temperature melting, cooling amorphous SiO2) by crushing, ball grinding (or vibration, airflow grinding), flotation, pickle purification, high purity water treatment and other multi-process process processing.
micro-powder is non-toxic, tasteless and pollution-free, with high-grade fillers required low impurities, high fineness, high hardness, strong coloring force, high resistivity, acid-base resistance and other characteristics. More dispersion, suspension, good tentacles, can improve the storage stability of paint, paint and anti-flow hanging performance in the construction process, can significantly improve the paint, paint corrosion resistance, wear resistance, insulation, weather resistance and high temperature resistance, while greatly reducing the amount of modified bentosum, not only improve the performance of paint, paint, but also reduce the overall cost. By comparing the quality parameters of coating-grade titanium dioxide and coating-grade silicon micro-powder, it can be found that there are many similar qualities between the two, so it is feasible to replace titanium dioxide in part.
talcum powder
talcum powder is an essential coating raw materials, talcum powder in the coating as a filler, can play a skeleton role, reduce manufacturing costs while improving the paint film hardness of the paint, increase the stability of product shape, elongation rate, at the same time with high whiteness, particle size uniform dispersion and so on. Talc powder shape is mainly flaky, in the coating has excellent suspension, can help other pigments in the system to maintain a suspended state. In addition, ultra-fine talc powder is suitable for controlling the gloss, consistency and flow-hanging properties of coatings.
At present, talcum powder can not completely replace titanium white powder, however, there have been related enterprises have developed a high economic value of talcum powder products, can not affect the performance of the coating without partially replacing titanium white powder.
Kaolin
Kaolin soil in the production of paint coatings is mainly as a filling skeleton, at the same time, because kaolin has excellent dispersion and chemical properties are stable, corrosion and fire resistance, with its paint production additives, can improve the adsorption and cover capacity of coatings. Kaolin processing products with different particle sizes can be used to produce different types of paint coatings.
kaolin can replace part of the titanium white powder, it can increase the whiteness of the coating and provide a certain cover, but the amount of replacement is not very large. Although kaolin can not completely replace titanium white, but can produce synergy, increase the effective utilization rate of titanium white, reduce the amount of titanium white.Siliconite
Silica Ashstone is a silicate mineral with a refractive index (1.63) higher than many white minerals, and the surface is prone to the formation of active groups such as OH-E- which help to create synergies in the preparation of composite pigments based on silica ash, covered with TiO2. Some silica ash products can be more than 90% white and can replace 30% to 50% titanium dioxide in rubber, plastics and coatings.
At present, due to the product cover performance is too low and other factors, these powder materials can not completely replace titanium dioxide for the time being, but by preparing similar performance with titanium dioxide TiO2 composite pigments, can alleviate the high price of titanium dioxide and other issues.
reference:
sandalwood. Mechanically active preparation of calcium carbonate / TiO2 composite particulate materials and
Wang Baikun. Calcined kaolin / TiO2 composite particle preparation and pigment performance characteristics
Hou Xifeng. Silica ash/TiO2 composite particle preparation and pigment performance