Super-strong rust-free lightweight cars could be in prospect following the
development of a cheaper way of extracting titanium from its ore. Derek Fray and
his colleagues at Cambridge University found they could recover titanium from
its oxide ore by making it a negatively charged cathode in a bath of molten
calcium chloride. Oxygen in the oxide ionised and dissolved in the chloride,
leaving just titanium metal behind. This appears “very much easier and quicker
than the established routes”, says Fray (Nature, vol 407, p 361).
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