Cheaper, lighter, stronger: pick ... well, all three, actually

[unixronin]

mrmeval found this article about an MIT-founded startup, Avanti Metail, that has a process for refining titanium by electrolysis.

Currently, titanium is refined using the Kroll process, which is slow, expensive, consumes large amounts of magnesium, and produces large amounts of toxic waste, yielding titanium at a cost of $40 per pound and rising, about six times the cost of stainless steel.  There is also a solid-electrolyte method known as the FFC Cambridge process, but the titanium still requires further processing after extraction and the process is very inefficient.  Avanti's new process operates by electrolysing a molten mixture of titanium oxide and magnesium or calcium oxide, and yields pure moltem titanium which can be tapped directly off the bottom of the reactor vessel without a need for further refining.  The electrolyte is not consumed.

Avanti predicts they can cut the cost of titanium by a factor of ten.

Nabil Elkouh, president of Erigo Technologies, a consulting firm that puts together deals between researchers and investors, and who's an advisor to Avanti, cautions that their projection of producing titanium at one-tenth of the current cost, may be optimistic at this point. "They may have something great, but it may take four years," he says. "It may not ever be one-tenth the cost -- but what if it were half the cost? That'd still be great."

Comments

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Ti at 1/10th the cost would be the bomb. I'm thinking Ti framed motorcycles.

-Ogre

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

That'd be interesting all right .....

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I was reading about that earlier. That would be SOOO sweet!

I have a technical question, Will Titanium trigger metal detectors? I know it won't hold a magnet.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

It's non-ferrous, but I think metal detectors use eddy currents, not magnetism per se. They'll detect a bronze belt buckle, so I don't see why they wouldn't detect titanium.

[blackcoat.livejournal.com]

Hell, even if the cost were to stay the same, not having to process and store the toxic byproduct from the Kroll method would probably cut costs overall. (Unless that's factored into the cost reductions)

[smandal.livejournal.com]

One thing I envied about Russia was that due to their rich titanium deposits and trade restrictions, they could actually make devices as ubiquitous as crowbars out of titanium.

Somebody already mentioned motorcycle frames. Commercial airplanes could also use it instead of defense projects like the SR-71, for fuel savings from weight and higher heat tolerance in possible supersonic travel.

Oh, and cheaper rugged laptop and MP3 player cases, etc. etc.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Russia also, if I recall correctly, has most of the world's known supply of tungsten, which is why it was such a big deal when boron steels were discovered -- all the benefits of tungsten steels with a much more readily available alloying metal.

[bbwoof.livejournal.com]

$40 per pound... about six times the cost of stainless steel?

Or, to look at it another way, about three times the cost per unit volume?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Actually, since I don't know the cost per unit weight or volume of stainless steel offhand (and strongly suspect it depends on the grade anyway), I don't know whether the Kroll Process article meant 6:1 cost per unit weight or volume. It does seem a fair assumption, though.

[bbwoof.livejournal.com]

You're right; the density of stainless steel depends on the grade. I looked it up. Stainless runs between 7.47 and 8.51 grams per cubic centimeter, while titanium comes in at 4.5.

A "friend" of mine once threw a metal bar about 5 1/2 feet long at me, shouting "Hey Woof! Catch!" When I turned my head to see this thing flying toward my face, my life passed before my eyes. I put out a hand to deflect it, and ... caught the damned thing. It weighed maybe 15 ounces. Sure enough, it was titanium. I might have attempted to explain why he should not scare people that way, but it woulda been real hard on his living-room.
MORAL: It is unwise to frighten someone half to death, while simultaneously providing him with a deadly weapon.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

I would say it is downright foolhardy to so.