Synthesis of potassium polytitanate precursors by treatment of TiO2 with molten mixtures of KNO3 and KOH

The synthesis of potassium titanate by treatment of TiO2 with molten mixtures of KNO3 and KOH was investigated. The stage of TiO2 transformation into potassium titanate depends on the temperature of treatment, contents of KOH in the molten salt mixture and admixtures of K2CO3. The investigation of the chemical and phase composition as well as the size distribution of the powder produced allowed to consider the product obtained as a potassium polytitanate. The mechanism of the potassium polytitanate synthesis is analyzed. It is shown that the synthesized powder is a promising precursor to produce ceramics based on K2Ti6O13 and characterized with high mechanical properties.