A thermodynamic determination of the dissociation energy of the gaseous TiO molecule

Abstract

In recent years titanium, the earth’s ninth most abundant element, has rapidly assumed a position of metallurgical importance. The slowness with which the technological aspects of the extractive metallurgy of titanium have been developed may be attributed in large measure to the dearth of knowledge of the fundamental thermodynamic properties of the element and its compounds. As the metal oxidizes rapidly above 650°c, the thermodynamic relationships in the titanium-oxygen system present a particularly fruitful field for study.