Titanium, since its discovery in the late 1700s, has been
something of a wonder metal. A naturally occurring element, it
has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any known metal, and
while some steel alloys compare in strength, titanium is nearly
half as heavy. Titanium is also highly corrosion resistant,
making it ideal for use in many applications. Titanium is used
in everything from pigments to aerospace materials to medical
devices and has garnered a keen interest by the military since
the 1950s. Though the element is incredibly useful, the high
cost of producing it has kept it out of general use. In 2006,
DuPont and Materials and Electrochemical Research Corporation
were awarded $5.7 million by the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency to engineer new processes to create titanium
powder more efficiently. Now, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(ORNL) has found a way to reduce the cost of creating useful
titanium parts even further -- by up to 50%, states a press
release at ORNL. Rather than employi