Ilmenite

About Ilmenite

also known as menaccanite, is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula FeTiO3.

It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid.

From a commercial perspective, ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium.

ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium, it is also the main source of titanium dioxide.

Ilmenite crystallizes in the trigonal system.

The ilmenite crystal structure consists of an ordered derivative of the corundum structure; in corundum all cations are identical but in ilmenite Fe2+ and Ti4+ ions occupy alternating layers perpendicular to the trigonal c axis. Containing high spin ferrous centers, ilmenite is paramagnetic.

Ilmenite is commonly recognized in altered igneous rocks by the presence of a white alteration product, the pseudo-mineral leucoxene. Often ilmenites are rimmed with leucoxene, which allows ilmenite to be distinguished from magnetite and other iron-titanium oxides.

In reflected light it may be distinguished from magnetite by more pronounced reflection pleochroism and a brown-pink tinge.