Titanium dioxide
In nature, Titanium dioxide is formed in three different crystalline modifications: Anatase, Brookite and Rutile.
In the manufacturing of pigments, however, only Rutile and Anatase will be used. Grid cells are more densely packed in Rutile than in Anatase. For this reason, Rutile has a higher thermal stability as compared with Anatase. While the Anatase cells are connected by four borders, Rutile cells are only connected by two borders.
Globally, the manufacturing of titanium dioxide is currently subject to two methods. One is the sulphate process, which enables the manufacturing of Anatase or Rutile, and the second method is the chloride process, which solely facilitates the manufacturing of Rutile.
Whereas the building industry, in relation to for instance concrete and asphalt, mainly uses Anatase titanium, the coating and paint industry and the plastic industry mainly use various Rutile titanium types, manufactured pursuant to both the sulphate and chloride processes.
At Nordic Color, we market a number of different Anatase and Rutile types in various types of packaging.