Uses of Titanium Dioxide

 

Introduction

Titanium dioxide is the best white pigment in the world until today. Because of high whiteness, excellent hiding power, stability and non-toxic and other excellent properties, titanium dioxide has a very wide range of uses, from modern industry to science and technology. The main applications of titanium dioxide include coatings and paints, plastics, inks, papers, chemical fibers, medicines, foods, cosmetics and others which is closely related to people's life and national economy.

Use of Titanium Dioxide in Coatings and Paints

About 60% of the world's titanium dioxides are used in all kinds of coatings and paints. It can be said that coatings and paints are the first destination of titanium dioxide. The use of titanium dioxide makes the coatings and paints with more bright color and higher hiding power. It also can improve the hardness, adhesion, UV resistance of the coatings and paints and extend their service life. Titanium dioxide is used in almost all color pattern coatings.

Use of Titanium Dioxide in Inks

Titanium dioxide is an indispensable white pigment in inks. It accounts for 25%~50% of the weight of the entire ink in various types of inks, or even greater. The type of titanium dioxide can affect rheology, abrasiveness, gloss and redispersibility of inks. Usually, titanium dioxide with organic treatment is mainly used, because it can be well dispersed in inks to make the inks with good performances that mentioned above. And the titanium dioxide used in ink is mostly rutile titanium dioxide, of course, anatase titanium dioxide will be also used for some special needs.

Use of Titanium Dioxide in Plastics

The vast amount of plastic produced makes the plastics industry a major titanium dioxide user. There are about 10% titanium dioxide types specially designed for plastic. In plastics industry, the requirements for titanium dioxide are good dispersibility in a polymer system, blue undertone and good heat stability. Almost all types of plastics require use of titanium dioxide, and the amount of titanium dioxide is usually between 3% and 5%, and the particle size is between 0.15 and 0.3 μm.

Use of Titanium Dioxide in Papers

The paper industry uses titanium dioxide in two applications: wet-end addition and paper coatings. In the wet-end addition, aqueous pigment dispersion is added to the paper pulp. To make pigment particles stick to the fibers, flocculating agents and retention aids are added. Up to 6% by weight of titanium dioxide can be added in this way without decreasing the strength of the paper. For paper coatings, titanium dioxide is added to high-quality or thin papers to impart brightness, whiteness, gloss and opacity. Since paper is made in aqueous systems, most of the titanium dioxide is sold to the industry as slurry.

Use of Titanium Dioxide in Rubbers

The titanium dioxide in rubber plays the role of coloring, reinforcing, anti-aging and filling. Almost all white rubber products need to add titanium dioxide because the anti-aging ability of white rubber products is relatively weak, which is easy to occur aging when subjected to ultraviolet irradiation. Titanium dioxide can reflect UV well and play a protective role on rubber products. In general, outdoor rubber products need to add rutile titanium dioxide, while indoor rubber products need to add anatase titanium dioxide.

Use of Titanium Dioxide in Textile and Chemical Fibers

In textile and chemical fiber, titanium dioxide is mainly used as a matting agent to regulate the gloss and weather resistance of fabrics. In addition, titanium dioxide also as an antibacterial agent in textile and chemical fiber makes the fabric with good odor and antibacterial function. Among the fabric products where titanium dioxide can be applied are polyester fibers, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), acrylic, polyamide, etc. For such application, anatase is preferred.

Use of Titanium Dioxide in Foods and Drugs

Due to very low toxicity, the titanium dioxide is widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industry as coloring. For food industry, titanium dioxide is permitted as a food additives E171. Normally, in a proportion no upper than 1% by weight, is used in confectionery, baked, cheeses, icings, toppings, and food supplements. For such application, there are strict requirements for the content of heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium in titanium dioxide.

Use of Titanium Dioxide in Cosmetics

Titanium dioxide is widely used as a pigment for coloring of different products in cosmetics industries, which basically replaces the original zinc barium white and lead white used in cosmetics. The main objective is to provide to an appropriate color for final product which will cause pleasant subjective sensations for consumer, based on the refraction caused by the titanium dioxide added. There are many cosmetics that contain titanium dioxide, including shampoos, balms, lotions, creams, soaps, sunscreens, lipsticks, toothpaste, hair dyes, anti-wrinkle treatment, baby cream, hair treatments, etc.