New Titanium Processing Technique Lowers Cost

[Scooper]

This sounds like good news for Ti lovers.

Lowering titanium's cost and environmental footprint for lightweight products (http://www.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/NewsItem/?vgnextoid=53da5c2705b03410VgnVCM100000621e010aRCR D)

[avalonracing]

This sounds like good news for Ti lovers.

Lowering titanium's cost and environmental footprint for lightweight products (http://www.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/NewsItem/?vgnextoid=53da5c2705b03410VgnVCM100000621e010aRCR D)

Uh oh... What if it becomes cheaper to make a Ti bike than a plastic, I mean, carbon bike? If that's the case bike manufacturers, their marketers and then the riders who parrot them will soon be telling us that, because of their ride quality and performance, Titanium bikes are the only bikes that racers and serious riders should use.

[mvrider]

That article is maddening in its omission of a link to the source article. Here it is, with the abstract below:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja408118x

Chemists on the Forum may appreciate this process flow:
http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/jacsat/2013/jacsat.2013.135.issue-49/ja408118x/production/images/medium/ja-2013-08118x_0005.gif

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element, fourth among common metals, in the Earth’s crust. Apart from some high-value applications in, e.g., the aerospace, biomedicine, and defense industries, the use of titanium in industrial or civilian applications has been extremely limited because of its high embodied energy and high cost. However, employing titanium would significantly reduce energy consumption of mechanical systems such as civilian transportation vehicles, which would have a profound impact on the sustainability of a global economy and the society of the future. The root cause of the high cost of titanium is its very strong affinity for oxygen. Conventional methods for Ti extraction involve several energy-intensive processes, including upgrading ilmenite ore to Ti-slag and then to synthetic rutile, high-temperature carbo-chlorination to produce TiCl4, and batch reduction of TiCl4 using Mg or Na (Kroll or Hunter process). This Communication describes a novel chemical pathway for extracting titanium metal from the upgraded titanium minerals (Ti-slag) with 60% less energy consumption than conventional methods. The new method involves direct reduction of Ti-slag using magnesium hydride, forming titanium hydride, which is subsequently purified by a series of chemical leaching steps. By directly reducing Ti-slag in the first step, Ti is chemically separated from impurities without using high-temperature processes.

[jtakeda]

That's really cool.

Maybe a rise in Ti accessories; Stems, posts, bottle cages etc will follow?

[Scooper]

That article is maddening in its omission of a link to the source article. Here it is, with the abstract below:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja408118x

Thanks for the link!

[evo111@comcast.net]

Always impressive how people figure ways to process materials.

[mike p]

Is this theory or has it been put to practice yet? Any ideas what the cost reduction will be to us, the consumer?

Mike

[Admiral Ackbar]

id imagine it will be a while until this trickles down to cycling

[oldpotatoe]

Uh oh... What if it becomes cheaper to make a Ti bike than a plastic, I mean, carbon bike? If that's the case bike manufacturers, their marketers and then the riders who parrot them will soon be telling us that, because of their ride quality and performance, Titanium bikes are the only bikes that racers and serious riders should use.

Love this...

[Mark McM]

Uh oh... What if it becomes cheaper to make a Ti bike than a plastic, I mean, carbon bike? If that's the case bike manufacturers, their marketers and then the riders who parrot them will soon be telling us that, because of their ride quality and performance, Titanium bikes are the only bikes that racers and serious riders should use.

I wouldn't worry about that happening. The cost of raw material is only a small part of the cost of a frame - even for titanium frames. The larger part of the reason titanium frames are more expensive than, say, steel or aluminum frames, is that titanium is more difficult to work with (forming, cutting, welding, etc.). While this new process to extract titanium from ore could decrease the cost of titanium frames somewhat, they will still be very expensive to make.

[Ahneida Ride]

Simply a Titanic discovery ! :banana:


Yea .... Ti is not an easy material to work with .... you have to know what you are doing.
So even if you knock a few frns off the tube sets, you still have the labor costs.

[PaMtbRider]

Simply a Titanic discovery ! :banana:


Yea .... Ti is not an easy material to work with .... you have to know what you are doing.
So even if you knock a few frns off the tube sets, you still have the labor costs.

Could you maybe just once make a post without using the non-word frns

[Ahneida Ride]

Could you maybe just once make a post without using the non-word frns

Why ? ... that is what exactly they are .... "federal reserve note" ..
Says it right on top ... take a peek ...

it is in small print .... right on top

Actually they are not even notes since they do not specify the terms of their redemption
frnacation is the process of creating em by typing numbers into a computer spread sheet.

They are frequently denoted as frn. Please look at the Wikipedia articles ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Note

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US-$10-FRN-1914-Fr.898a.jpg

The are distinct from United States Notes issued by the US Treasury Notes on which taxpayers do not pay interest.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/United-States-Note-JFK-1963.jpg

[zmudshark]

Ironic that the breakthrough was made with funding by the US Government:eek:

[dekindy]

Ironic that the breakthrough was made with funding by the US Government:eek:

Good indication that it is not a big deal and not cost-effective or the private sector would have done it a long time ago.:eek::eek:

[zmudshark]

Good indication that it is not a big deal and not cost-effective or the private sector would have done it a long time ago.:eek::eek:

Yeah, the private sector is always doing those big things first:no:

[Dustin]

Ironic that the breakthrough was made with funding by the US Government:eek:


What is ironic about that?

[zmudshark]

What is ironic about that?
More directed to Ahneida Ride and the frn quips.

Some things take a government to accomplish.

[Mikej]

It seems to be only valid for removing the ti from the ore. The REAL costs start to add up when you have to cold roll / anneal in an oxygen free environment - big hydraulic presses using serious electricity all while basically in a vacuum. Ti tubes can be very expensive vs. aluminum or steel - I would estimate raw materials for a ti frame (us made tubing and parts from Paragon) to be in the 900-1400 dollar amount easy, depending on diameter, butting, wall thickness etc. Plus the the required skills to not f&$& up the bike while welding.

[Ahneida Ride]

More directed to Ahneida Ride and the frn quips.

Some things take a government to accomplish.

I completely agree. It is time to return the control of our nations
currency to Congress as mandated by the US Constitution.

The federal reserve system is not a government entity.
It is a private corporation. Open up the phone book and look for it
under Government. You will not find it there.

It is an independent "agency" as promulgated by Dr. Greenspan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w4AUAdN12c

[ColonelJLloyd]

Why is it that it's ok for this moderator to post irrelevant political content in every thread?

This thread was about a new titanium processing technique. Way to go, Ahneida Buzzkill.

[Mikej]

Why is it that it's ok for this moderator to post irrelevant political content in every thread?

This thread was about a new titanium processing technique. Way to go, Ahneida Buzzkill.

Ray is ok, just a fanatic about frns. I imagine if we did get rid of the fed there would be one hell of a correction that would have even Ray himself begging for the good ole days. We are all living on a borrowed dime, so buy a custom ti bike bike before your money is worth even less in the form of inflation. I went to Barnes and noble last night and freaking fell over when I grabbed a rag I haven't read in a while and saw it was 9$! Oh yeah, just remember I have always said we need an OT forum.

[oldpotatoe]

I completely agree. It is time to return the control of our nations
currency to Congress as mandated by the US Constitution.

The federal reserve system is not a government entity.
It is a private corporation. Open up the phone book and look for it
under Government. You will not find it there.

It is an independent "agency" as promulgated by Dr. Greenspan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w4AUAdN12c

Now that's a GREAT idea.

Maybe they can regulate the process that titanium is processed with...this is about titanium, right?...