Abstract. This paper focuses on deoxidation of titanium alloys produced by aluminothermic reduction (ATR) and subsequent homogenizing and alloying by vacuum induction melting (VIM). The main goal of the performed research work is to outline the deoxidation limit during pressure electro slag remelting (PESR) of the described material. To obtain electrodes for deoxidation, a Ti-24Al-16V masteralloy was produced by ATR and afterwards melted in a 0.5 litre calcium-zirconate (lab scale) or 14 litres high purity calcia (pilot scale) crucibles with continuous addition of Ti-sponge after reaching liquid state in order to obtain a final Ti-6Al-4V alloy. During melting, in both cases evaporation of calcium was noticed. The cast ingots were analysed for oxygen using inert gas fusion method, matrix and alloying elements were analysed by XRF. Results show oxygen levels between 0.5 and 0.95 wt.-% for the ingots which were melted in calcium-zirconate crucibles and approx. 1 -1.2 wt.-% for the material produced by utilization of calcia crucibles. The subsequent deoxidation was carried out in lab and pilot scale electroslag remelting furnaces using a commercially pure calcium fluoride slag and metallic calcium as deoxidation agent. It could be shown, that deoxidation of the highly contaminated material is possible applying this method to a certain limit. Pilot scale trials showed a reduction of oxygen contents by 1500 -3500 ppm. Oxygen levels in lab scale trials showed weaker deoxidation effects. In order to describe the achieved deoxidation effects in a quantitative way, the analyzed oxygen contents of the obtained ingots are compared with calculated data resulting from a mathematical kinetic model. The modelled datasets are in good agreement with experimental oxygen values.

Due to the high generation of scrap in the process chain of γ‐TiAl semi‐finished goods and products, a suitable recycling process shows great potential to reduce production costs. Based on this circumstance, a closed loop recycling process for titanium‐aluminide scraps was developed. Resulting from this process, as a significant innovation for the titanium industry, it is possible to recycle titanium‐aluminide scraps and produce material with minimal oxygen content and almost no observable difference to primary alloys.

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The current work is devoted to the investigation of oxygen impact on the structure and properties of titanium. For this purpose, oxygen was introduced into titanium during chamber electro-slag remelting by three different methods: alloying by oxygen-rich residues from the Kroll process to final values between 0.053 wt.-% and 0.40 wt.-%, by reaction with the gas phase to 0.27 wt.-% and by introduction of TiO 2 nanoparticles to 0.73 wt.-%. The influence of oxygen on microstructure of titanium during crystallization, heat treatment and deformation is determined as well as the effect of oxygen on the hardness and the mechanical properties of the material in different structural states. Furthermore, control methods of the structure formation process by thermal effects are proposed. Results show that the chamber electroslag remelting allows obtaining a homogeneous structure of the ingot in the investigated range of oxygen content in titanium. The hardness does not vary by more than 10 percent in longitudinal or radial direction in any of the remelted ingots.