Skip to comments.
A tantalising prospect: Exotic, useful metals such as titanium are about to become cheap & plentiful
The Economist ^
| February 16, 2013
Posted on 02/14/2013 8:43:12 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-33 next last
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Cheap tungsten bullets for everyone?
2
posted on
02/14/2013 8:45:19 PM PST
by
wastedyears
(I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
and for my next trick, I will turn lead into gold.
3
posted on
02/14/2013 8:47:22 PM PST
by
UCANSEE2
(The monsters are due on Maple Street)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Julian Simon right again.
4
posted on
02/14/2013 8:48:58 PM PST
by
PeaceBeWithYou
(De Oppresso Liber! (50 million and counting in Afghanistan and Iraq))
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Thankfull that Medicare paid for my titanium hip!!!
5
posted on
02/14/2013 8:51:09 PM PST
by
dalereed
To: 2ndDivisionVet; jiggyboy; PA Engineer; blam; TigerLikesRooster; Cheap_Hessian; CJinVA; ...
To: Jet Jaguar
7
posted on
02/14/2013 8:57:08 PM PST
by
blam
To: 2ndDivisionVet
But what about the Iridium? Platinum? Unobtanium?
8
posted on
02/14/2013 9:02:11 PM PST
by
Utilizer
(What does not kill you... -can sometimes damage you QUITE severely.)
To: wastedyears
Maybe cores, straight up, the barrel wear would be frightful.
9
posted on
02/14/2013 9:06:17 PM PST
by
Axenolith
(Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
To: Axenolith
10
posted on
02/14/2013 9:17:54 PM PST
by
null and void
(Gun confiscation enables tyranny. Don't enable tyranny.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
wll we ever have home 3D titanium printers?
11
posted on
02/14/2013 9:21:21 PM PST
by
GeronL
(http://asspos.blogspot.com)
To: GeronL
There are so many new ideas for a business that you could literally start 10 a day.
12
posted on
02/14/2013 9:22:52 PM PST
by
2ndDivisionVet
(I'll raise $2million for Sarah Palin's presidential run. What'll you do?)
To: UCANSEE2
Huh? It is 12 year old science that is finally being commercialized. This is not alchemy.
13
posted on
02/14/2013 9:32:59 PM PST
by
piytar
(The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
To: UCANSEE2
Oops nearly two decades old science. (Why such a lag? Rent seekers.)
14
posted on
02/14/2013 9:35:35 PM PST
by
piytar
(The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
anyone who has had a welt raised on their finger when a tantalum capacitor fails might argue with the description of “best”. But this is a pretty cool process, nonetheless.
Find a way to make rare earths, then we’ll really have something.
15
posted on
02/14/2013 9:41:20 PM PST
by
bigbob
To: GeronL
16
posted on
02/14/2013 9:41:55 PM PST
by
preacher
(Communism has only killed 100 million people: Let's give it another chance!)
To: Axenolith
Concur. Brass bullets wear out a rifle barrel in a few hundred bullets. It makes sense to use brass on bullets for elephants and cape buffalo, but not much else. I can only imagine life of a barrel using tungsten bullets.
17
posted on
02/14/2013 9:42:25 PM PST
by
fini
To: bigbob
18
posted on
02/14/2013 9:47:39 PM PST
by
2ndDivisionVet
(I'll raise $2million for Sarah Palin's presidential run. What'll you do?)
To: PeaceBeWithYou
19
posted on
02/14/2013 9:58:46 PM PST
by
2ndDivisionVet
(I'll raise $2million for Sarah Palin's presidential run. What'll you do?)
To: wastedyears
Yikes. Rare or not, tungsten is really hard. It would tear up the barrel in short order. Maybe as a jacketed slug, as is already being done (and the benefit there would be the lower cost), since it is close to lead in weight.
Also, just because tungsten and titanium and other similar metals are about to get cheaper, doesn’t mean they’re not still insanely expensive to work with. Both metals require complex tools to work, and very high temperatures for forging.
20
posted on
02/14/2013 10:06:22 PM PST
by
Little Pig
(Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-33 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson