An interesting thing about titanium - I think it will become much more common and cheaper in the future. The Kroll process is comically complex, and the newer A

An interesting thing about titanium - I think it will become much more common and cheaper in the future. The Kroll process is comically complex, and the newer Armstrong process reduces refinement down to just a few steps with way less energy consumption. Titanium is also hard to machine, but the Armstrong process produces a powder as a result. If the Armstrong process can be tuned to produce Ti powder suitable for 3D printing, then the upcoming patent lapses on metal 3D printing will mean cheap 3D printed titanium gadgets may be in the future. Aluminum for example used to be so rare and difficult to produce that Napoleon used Gold plates at the dinner table with his regular guests and Aluminum plates with the very best guests. Then we found a better way to refine aluminum and now we have cheap dollar store aluminum bottle openers. Titanium itself is decently abundant in the Earth's crust, so I am hoping these cost reductions in refining and manufacturing, when widespread, will mean cheap Titanium stuff too. And seriously it is worth watching this video on the Kroll process from Oakridge National Laboratory. It feels like a rube goldberg contraption and clearly uses lots of energy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWyrzZh3We0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWyrzZh3We0 And here is their video on the Armstrong process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73HLzYuIfx0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73HLzYuIfx0