Ferrotitanium (FeTi 70 & FeTi 30/35)

Scrap-based FeTi 70 for stainless and special steels and aluminothermic FeTi 30/35 for carbon steel, lump and cored-wire sizings, from UK, Indian and Chinese producers

Ferrotitanium is the alloy that puts titanium into steel, and there are two products under the one name. FeTi 70 is made by induction melting titanium scrap (turnings, solids and sponge fines) with steel, and the grade a UK producer publishes reads Ti 68–77%, Al 5% max, V 3% max, Si 0.5%, Sn 0.5%, N 0.5%, C 0.2%, S 0.05% and P 0.05% max, with low-residual (Al under 0.5%) and low-gas (N under 0.3%) variants for demanding melts; because it is scrap-based, its aluminium and vanadium follow the aerospace alloy scrap it was made from, which is why Al and V limits sit on the specification sheet. FeTi 30/35 is made aluminothermically from ilmenite or titania slag and carries about 28–40% Ti with higher aluminium and silicon; it is the cheaper unit of titanium for carbon and low-alloy steel. Both are bought per kilogram of contained titanium, sized to the addition method: 0–2 mm and 2–10 mm for cored wire, 5–30 mm and 10–50 mm lump for ladle and furnace additions; ISO 5454 is the delivery standard. In steel, titanium ties up carbon and nitrogen: it stabilises ferritic and austenitic stainless grades (the 321 and 409/439 families) against intergranular corrosion, refines grain and forms the TiN that pins austenite grain growth in HSLA and micro-alloyed plate, controls sulphide shape, and, in interstitial-free deep-drawing sheet, scavenges the carbon and nitrogen that would otherwise age the strip. Supply follows titanium scrap: the UK (Sheffield-area melters), India, where the largest producer states 3,600 MT a year of FeTi capacity across 30–75% Ti grades supplied to integrated and stainless mills, and China, which makes both scrap-based FeTi 70 and ilmenite-based FeTi 30, are the origins the desk works, and melt origin and feedstock origin are declared on every offer because European mills now ask for both.

The buyers are stainless and special-steel melt shops, long-product and plate mills, foundries (FeTi as a grain refiner in cast steel) and cored-wire manufacturers who buy fines to fill their own wire. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers FeTi 70 and FeTi 30/35 from British, Indian and Chinese producer and trader allocations against the producer's certificate of analysis per lot and SGS or Alfred H Knight sampling and assay of Ti, Al, V, Si, Sn, C, N, S, P and sizing, with the feedstock declaration (scrap-based or ilmenite-based) and melt origin on the certificate of origin. Ferrotitanium is not a classified dangerous good in lump form, but fines below 2 mm are handled as a combustible metal powder and packed accordingly. Parcels move in 1 MT big bags or 250 kg drums, 20–24 MT per 20-foot container, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, and the reference points are Fastmarkets' ferro-titanium assessments, quoted per kilogram of Ti delivered Europe. Send the titanium grade, aluminium and vanadium ceilings, sizing, monthly tonnage and discharge port, and the enquiry is worked against current producer and warehouse positions.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices South Africa to China mineral freight on LaycanDesk.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.