Study of the Kroll-process to produce Ultra-pure Ti for the Low Background Experiments.

To construct G2 & G3 low background experiments for direct Dark Matter search, a lot of ultra-pure construction materials will be needed. Our study of various Ti samples shows that the levels of contaminations of commercially available industrial Ti can varies from 0.2 to 100 mBq/kg for U/Th. It means that the metal Ti is such a promising material for future experiments if the way of production in bulk quantities with very low level of contaminations (below ~1 mBq/kg of 238U / 232Th) would be developed. Our study of the industrial Kroll-process is focused on the possible sources of U and Th and their migration during the multistage Kroll process. To understand migration of U and Th during the Kroll process the set of other impurities available due to precise ICP-MS analysis have been studied. Preliminary results confirm that the Kroll process could be used for the ultra pure Ti sponge production while the following stages of the metal Ti production of from the Ti sponge with necessary mechanical properties need to be additionally studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]